Mariana Vale is a Professor of Ecology at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Brazil. She holds a PhD in ecology from Duke University, USA. She is a member of several international bodies, including: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the Coalition for Pandemic Prevention. Prof. Vale works on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the tropics, with a conservation biogeography approach, and a focus on the impacts of climate change and deforestation in South America’s rainforests and on its fauna. With the onset of COVID-19, Prof. Vale began working on, and advocating for, pandemic prevention through environmental protection.