Speaker

Anastasios P. Leventis was born in Ghana in 1941. As well as serving as a Director of Leventis Group International and Nigerian Company Boards he has served as Chairman of the A. G. Leventis Foundation since 2003 and has also consistently championed biodiversity conservation in many countries, promoting sustainable development and fostering research and education in this field. In this capacity, he is Founder Trustee of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation;Honorary Vice-President of BirdLife International;Founder of BirdLife Cyprus, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society;Trustee of the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Trust and Member of the Board of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. He holds an honorary Professorship at the Mariupol University of the Humanities, Ukraine, an Honorary Fellowship from King’s College London and Honorary Doctorates from the University of Athens, the University of Exeter, the University of Jos and the Agricultural University of Abeokuta in Nigeria. Accredited Honorary Commissioner for the Republic of Cyprus to Nigeria by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, he has received numerous honours for his contribution to education, conservation and philanthropy, including: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (UK), Order of Madarski Konnikand Order of the Golden Age (Bulgaria), Order For Merit (Ukraine), Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (Nigeria), Grande Ufficiale della Stella d’Italia (Italy). A. P. Leventis is also Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.