About Helen Tugendhat

Helen is our Co-Executive Director (Programmes and Engagement). She joined Synchronicity Earth from the Forest Peoples Programme, a human rights organisation that works with Indigenous and forest peoples to secure their rights.

Helen has spent over 20 years providing policy advice to Indigenous Peoples and communities on conservation policy and practice, from the 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban onwards, and on the application of international and regional human rights frameworks to support recognition of rights.

She has a particular interest in supporting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives based on secure tenure, in addition to rights-based approaches to other forms of biodiversity protection. Helen also serves as the vice-chair for Rights, Governance and Equity for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, a position she took up in February 2022.

Before moving to Europe in 2006, Helen was the regional advisor on Indigenous Peoples’ rights for the United Nations Development Programme in the Asia Pacific. Prior to this, she worked for a variety of local human rights and Indigenous organisations in Southeast Asia, and for a global Indigenous alliance.