Dr Elma Kay is Director of the Belize Maya Forest Trust, a non-governmental organization entrusted with the stewardship and management of Belize’s second largest private protected area. Prior to this Elma co-founded the University of Belize Environmental Research Institute working as the Science Director (Terrestrial) and Administrative Director for a decade. This included representing  the University of Belize in numerous regional and national councils, boards and expert groups addressing protected areas policy and financing, REDD+, climate change and the environment. As a biologist who combines 20 years of experience in research and teaching, conservation practice and policy, and organizational leadership with significant experience in stakeholder engagement and management, strategic planning and coalition building to achieve larger outcomes. Elma through her activism and close collaboration with local and international partners has helped to secure the protection of over a quarter million acres of Belize’s most highly threatened forests in the Belize Maya Forest and the Maya Forest Corridor. Elma continues to strive for effective and lasting conservation in her country through mentorship of students, young professionals, and community-based conservation groups and is currently the Chairwoman of Belize Network of NGOs, the Maya Forest Corridor Trust, and Belize’s Scientific Authority for the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Elma also proudly serves as Vice President of Friends for Conservation and Development, co-manager of Belize’s single largest National Park, and in the board of directors of Silk Grass Wildlife Reserve, Belize’s first model of sustainable financing for protected areas through a certified B-corporation. Elma’s love of nature and biology came from growing up in rural Belize where most of her family time was spent outdoors. Her passion for conservation was ignited in yer youth, especially after a two-week experience in the forests of the Rio Bravo in northwestern Belize and Belize’s Barrier Reef at Southwater Caye. Elma does her best to share such meaningful field experiences with her sons and other young Belizeans.