Project Manager
Future Earth, Canada
Santiago R Said is a Lebanese Colombian botanist based in Montreal, Canada. Fluent in four languages (Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese), Santiago has always felt at home on the entire American continent and, since he was very young, has devoted his career to the sustainable development of its people and the conservation of its natural heritage. His dedication to preserving nature in the Americas has led him to work and study in different countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Panama, the United States, and Canada.
Since 2019, he has worked closely with the Majé Emberá indigenous community in South Eastern Panama. In this territory, forests and traditional knowledge are interdependent and have co-evolved over time, and thus, rampant deforestation has resulted in a progressive loss of traditional knowledge. Said is presently working with indigenous leaders, combining GIS technologies and botany with traditional indigenous knowledge to conserve the community's endangered ethnobotanical knowledge. Since one of the main problems the community is facing is the lack of media coverage their situation is receiving, Said has recently started working on a virtual reality project to tell the story of deforestation and cultural loss in the community.
n 2020, he graduated with an M.Sc. in Natural Resource Management from McGill University. At McGill, he taught undergraduate students Biological Research Methods and researched the effects of invasive insect species on soil carbon dynamics in North American forests.
Currently, Said is working with the Colombian Ministry of Education, developing methodologies to empower youth in indigenous and rural communities to become sustainable entrepreneurs and conservation champions. He also works as a consultant for an ambitious project with the Colombian Ministry of Environment to plant over 180,000,000 trees by partnering with indigenous and rural communities all over Colombia.
As a person who thrives in diverse, inclusive, multicultural groups, Said has dedicated his life to using interdisciplinary approaches to devise unconventional solutions to environmental and social challenges.