Iván Bermejo Barbier
The overall function of Ivan's position as Responsible Sourcing Specialist will be to provide Project and Solutions Services (PAS) to commercial clients and donor-funded projects to support them in their goals to meet established sustainability standards, bespoke sustainability requirements and legal requirements for sourcing natural resources.
With a Master’s degree in Forestry from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2001, including a specialisation in Tropical Silviculture, Ivan holds 20 years of experience in the forest sector. 15 years have been devoted to development cooperation, project management and promotion of certified forest products in Guatemala and some other countries in Latin America.
His work has been based on the involvement with companies of different sizes committed to provide/be supplied with responsible products, especially from Latin America to European markets. Responsible sourcing guided by FSC criteria and Fair Trade certification for both agricultural and timber forest products have occupied most of his time. He also passed Preferred by Nature's FSC FM/CoC Lead Auditor courses.
Since he came back to Europe in 2017, Ivan has led fair trade certification procedures for Spanish companies, has participated in European projects regarding FSC and fair trade markets and the promotion of timber use for achieving decarbonisation within the construction sector and has been involved with the timber industry in Navarra (Spain).
As a Responsible Sourcing Specialist, he will provide support to commercial clients and donor-funded projects to meet their goals based on: Established sustainability standards, Bespoke sustainability requirements and/or legal requirements (such as the EU Timber Regulation, Lacey Act or the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act (ILPA) and other applicable national timber regulation) for sourcing natural resources.
Ivan speaks Spanish and English. He joined Preferred by Nature in 2022.
"The future holds rewards for people, governments and companies that commit to responsible sourcing. Addressing social needs for food, consumer goods, housing and many other services in a way that encourages nature conservation is probably the most critical issue we are facing from a global/local perspective. Cooperation among all actors concerned is the most effective way to achieve success."
- Project management and logical framework analysis in Cooperation for Development: focus on environmental and market development for certified forest products.
- Timber legality assurance, social responsibility and related due diligence systems, risk assessments and supply chain verification and management, traceability and auditing within the forest sector.
- EU Timber Regulation and other legislative initiatives and policies in place for excluding illegal timber from markets.
- FSC CoC/Controlled Wood and Fair-trade certification schemes (agricultural and forest products).
- Technical assisstance to cooperatives and associations of the timber sector.
- 15 years project management experience + 6 years forest-products industry experience.
- Countries worked in: Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
- Languages spoken: English and Spanish.
