Our Story.

We are environmental and social governance professionals and have been working together for several years, in numerous countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as international policy fora.

In 2019, we decided to combine our skills and establish Takin Consulting, with a desire to contribute to improving the way natural resources are managed and governed around the world and a commitment to applying a creative, solution-oriented and pragmatic approach to our work.

The name of the company is a reference to the Takin, Bhutan’s national animal. It is a tribute to the positive experience and inspiration gained while working there. We are a registered company in France.

Our Team.

Ugo Ribet

Co-Founder

Social and Environmental Safeguards Specialist

Ugo is an international safeguards and policy specialist with +12 years experience working on social and environmental governance and safeguard processes, due diligence, evaluations, risk assessments and stakeholder engagement in the forest, protected areas, land use, and marine sectors in +15 countries, at the regional, national and sub-national level with governments, local communities, indigenous groups, civil society and private sector.

He has expertise in climate change policy, conservation, protected area management, REDD+, forests, land-use, oceans and natural resource governance. Proven experience in policy and legal analysis, social and environmental impact/risk screenings and assessments, development of safeguard management frameworks/plans and monitoring systems, stakeholder consultations and capacity building, project evaluation and due diligence for a variety of partners and funders including World Bank, UNDP, IUCN, IADB, GIZ, CI, SNV, FAO, KfW, CAFI, WWF, GEF, CEB in the capacity of advisor, expert and team leader.

Ugo is fluent in English, French and Spanish, and experience working in/on Bolivia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Panama, Peru, Tajikistan, Uruguay and Vietnam.

Sebastien Korwin-Wroblewski

Co-Founder

Social and Environmental Safeguards Specialist

Sebastien specialises in environmental and natural resource governance (forests, including REDD+, wildlife and protected area management), and more specifically in environmental and social safeguards. His knowledge base combines international and regional, social and environmental legal and policy frameworks (such as the UNFCCC, the CBD, CITES, and the EU FLEGT), as well as the safeguard frameworks, policies and procedures of multilateral donor agencies and NGOs (incl. UNDP, FAO, World Bank, IUCN, GCF, CAFI, KfW and WWF).

Sebastien has extensive experience carrying out field project focused environmental and social impact assessments and subsequently developing risk mitigation/management frameworks. This includes developing analytical methodologies and tools, desk-based research, and carrying out stakeholder consultations, including national and sub-national governments, local communities, Indigenous Peoples’ groups, civil society, the private sector and international organisations. Sebastien also has experience providing capacity and advisory support to organisations, assisting them to understand and implement their E&S safeguard commitments. This includes developing and delivering training curricula, mentoring national focal points, quality control of project screenings, technical oversight of consultants and their E&S related deliverables.

Sebastien is fluent in English, as well as French and has worked in numerous countries in Africa and Asia.

Our Associates.

Joanna Pickering

Joanna is a lawyer and researcher with a background in human rights and environmental law and policy. Her previous work has focused on land tenure, legal pluralism and law reform in the context of natural resource governance. In particular, she has worked on issues related to forest governance in producer countries and has published research concerning the impact of mining activities on local and indigenous communities. In addition, Joanna has experience in capacity-building and project management.

She has previously worked with a range of organisations, including the University of Cape Town and ClientEarth. She is fluent in English and French and has experience working in / on, amongst others, South Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Malaysia

Legal, Policy and Safeguards Expert

Sholto West

Sholto has over 13 years of experience as a legal researcher and project manager, working in the fields of environmental governance and minority rights. Principally, he has managed development aid projects with a focus on long-term climate change strategy, protected areas management, legal reform (air, water, land) and energy policy. He has worked extensively with the EU and German donors (GiZ and KfW). In various countries (Lebanon, Georgia, North Macedonia), Sholto has led high performing teams of experts, ensuring the quality and contextualization of complex outputs such as cross-sector low emission development pathways. His strengths lie in negotiating solutions within the context of competing interests and simplifying complex information in order to create clear options for progress.

With an LLM in Human rights and Environmental law, Sholto places equity at the core of his work by focusing on clearly defined participative processes and transparent decision-making. He has technical expertise in biodiversity finance and international safeguards.

Environmental Governance Expert

Pamela Ferro

Pamela is an environmental lawyer and policy analyst working on low carbon and climate resilient growth. Her work has focused on natural resources management, environmental certification, climate change, biodiversity, forest governance, AFOLU, REDD+ and REDD+ safeguards, indigenous peoples’ rights and traditional knowledge. Her expertise also includes working with Parliaments to advance environmental legislation and comply with international commitments. She has also worked on climate finance helping countries prepare funding proposals to access resources from diverse bilateral and multilateral funds (GEF, GCF, CIF, FAO, GIZ, IKI, among other).

Some of the organisations she has worked for include DFID, GIZ, SNV, USAID, FAO, University of Sussex, GEF, IDB, Globe International and ClientEarth. She is fluent in Spanish and English and has in-country experience in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru and the UK

Environmental Law Expert