Yeb Sano
Executive Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

 

 

Naderev “Yeb” Madla Saño is the Executive Director at Greenpeace Southeast Asia where he leads diverse operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand since 2015.

He’s a multi-awarded climate justice advocate. It can be recalled that he delivered an emotional appeal during the UN Climate Summit in Warsaw and underwent 14 days of fasting in solidarity with Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) victims and all people confronting climate impacts all over the world. His stint as Chief Negotiator for the Philippines catapulted the advocacy for climate justice to global acclaim. He also led the 40-day walk from Manila to Tacloban in the epic 1,000 kilometer Climate Walk in 2014. He is also the founder of The Climate Pilgrimage, an inter-faith call to action on the climate crisis.

Yeb served as Commissioner (with the rank of Undersecretary) of the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission, the country’s lead policy-making body on climate change. He served as the Philippines’ Chief Negotiator in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In 2013, he served as the Co-Chair of the UNFCCC’s Long Term Finance Work Programme. Before his stint in government, he had been working with local communities and international bodies on domestic and international issues that relate to climate change, clean energy, biodiversity, coastal and marine resources, tourism, disaster risk reduction and local governance.

A product of the University of the Philippines, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a graduate diploma degree in Community Development. He attended the College for Conservation Leadership in the Netherlands, and studied International Politics at the University College in Washington University. He was a Fellow at the Oxford Climate Policy Centre based in Oxford University under the European Capacity Building Initiative. Yeb is based in Quezon City in the Philippines.