About Us
Gaia-liNc e.V. is a German-based organization formed by Latin-American and European members committed to the sustainable development of Central and South America’s communities and their territories.
Our History
Gaia-liNc was founded by several students at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). While pursuing a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management, our members found a common interest of initiating, developing, implementing, and supporting cooperation projects between Europe and Latin-America, and founded gaia-liNc e.V. as an NGO committed to the sustainable development of Latin America’s communities and their territories.
Gaia-liNc is a german-based organization formed by Latin-American and European members. We are based in Munich, Germany with members located in several different cities around the globe.
Our Areas of Knowledge
Our team comes from various backgrounds with experience in the following fields.
- Ecosystem Services
- Environmental Education
- Ecology & Conservation
- Nature-based Solutions
- Life Cycle Assessment
- Environmental Policy & Regulation
- Landscape Management & Planning
- Waste Management
Our Founders
Our team consists of eight founding members from six different backgrounds.
Valeria Sorgato
PRESIDENT & Co-Founder
Valeria holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Communication and a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management with a specialization in wildlife and protected areas management; air, water, and climate; and landscape management. She has worked as an environmental journalist and coordinated communications in Latin America for NGOs such as Nature and Culture International. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Scientific Communication and Climate Change.
vsorgato@gaialinc.org
Cynthia Garland
CO-Founder
Cynthia has a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management at the Technical University of Munich. She is specialized in project management of nature conservation initiatives. Cynthia also holds a B.Sc. in Forest Engineering at the National Agrarian University La Molina in Lima, Peru.
cgarland@gaialinc.org
Diego Portugal
Co-FOUNDER
Diego is originally from Peru and currently lives in Geneva. He specializes in nature-based solutions and ecosystem services, with a particular interest in public, club and common goods. He works as a consultant and is also pursuing a PhD on the politics of trade-offs and decision-making in climate change adaptation.
dportugal@gaialinc.org
Anika Ruess
CO-FOUNDER
Anika is working for the European Space Agency (ESA) in Earth Observation for International Development. Her work bridges geospatial intelligence, international development, and climate finance, with strategic partnerships across institutions like the World Bank, Washington, and the Green Climate Fund, Korea. She holds an MSc from the TU Munich, with her thesis conducted at ETH Zurich on climate modeling using CMIP6 data from the World Climate Research Programme. She has a BSc both in Political Science and in Law and Economics. Currently, she is located in Rome, Italy.
aruess@gaialinc.org
Lina Avila
co- Founder
Lina holds a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management with focus on Forest Management and Renewable Resources at TUM. She comes from a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineer from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, and Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Law from Universidad del Rosario, in. Colombia.
lavila@gaialinc.org
Antony Castro
Co-Founder
Antony holds an M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management (specialized in geospatial big data) from the Technical University of Munich and a B.Sc. in Agricultural Sciences from EARTH University, Costa Rica. He also earned a Technician Diploma in Accounting and Finance from C.T.P.H. in Costa Rica. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at Bonn University, researching crop monitoring through sensors.
acastro@gaialinc.org
Claudio Parra
co-founder
Claudio has a B.Sc. in Biology, Diploma Environmental Engineering, Master in Environmental Management. He also has a Certificate in Business Administration and M.Sc. Sustainable Resource Management. He is located in Bremen, Germany.
cparra@gaialinc.org
Alejandro Castilla
CO-FOUNDER
Alejandro has several years worth of experience in finance, and holds a a B.E. in Industrial Engineering with a focus in process optimization and finance, and a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management with a focus on material waste management and soils sciences. Originally from Colombia, he is now based in Munich.
acastilla@gaialinc.org
Our Growing Team
Since founding gaia-liNc, our team has continued to add members from all over the world with different backgrounds and areas of expertise.
Wade Million
VICE PRESIDENT & MEMBER
Wade is an award winning photographer and science communicator. Originally from the USA, he holds a M.Sc. in Sustainable Resource Management and has worked on environmental contracts for UNESCO, the European Union, and Bavarian State Department of Forestry. He is currently on the communications team.
wmillion@gaialinc.org
Stephanie Gil
TREASURER & MEMBER
Stephanie is originally from Peru and is currently based in Berlin, Germany. She brings a diverse background in architecture and urban planning, with experience working across NGOs and private firms on projects ranging from community development to large-scale urban strategies. Her current work focuses on sustainable architecture and urbanism.
sgil@gaialinc.org
Francisca Tapia
Member
María Francisca is from Quito, Ecuador and is an expert in Nature-based Solutions. Having worked in Urban development projects in Ecuador, Italy, and across Europe, she is now based in Hungary.
ftapia@gaialinc.org
Lorand Boksan
Member
Lorand is based in Freising, Germany and has experience working with NGO’s and private companies in both Germany and South Africa. He is a water resource manager by training and specialized in water resource conflicts. At gaia-liNc he is part of the communications team.
lboksan@gaialinc.org
Values
“gaia-liNc e.V. initiates, develops, implements, and supports development cooperation projects. An interdisciplinary, dynamic and international environment within our team sets the framework for our international project activities.”
Frequently Asked Questions
the founding of the gaia-liNc organization came together in August 2019 with eight students at the Technical University of Munich, Germany (TUM). gaia-liNc was officially registrared as a German NGO (gaia-liNc e.V.)in the spring of 2020.
gaia-liNc e.V. initiates, develops, implements and supports development cooperation projects that support the bridge between Latin America and Europe in contexts of mitigation, adaptation, cultural/education, and transdisciplinary and cross sectoral issues.
As we have listed above, gaia-liNc is open to different collaborations, partnerships and projects that fit into our interests of bettering relationships between Latin America and Europe for development projects.
The concept of gaia-liNc came about between a group of students from Latin America who were studying sustainable resources management in Munich, Germany. The course inspired them to think of ways of further collaboration between Germany and Latin America for development projects, and the idea of gaia-liNc came about to stand as a bridge between the two continents.
As a young NGO still in development stages, we are not hiring. However, those who may be interested to collaborate with us in the future are encouraged to reach out as opportunities may come about in the future.
Gaia-liNc e.V. initiates, develops, implements and supports development cooperation projects committed with the sustainable development of Latin America’s communities and their territories.