Kathy MacKinnon trained as a zoologist at Oxford University and has spent most of her life working on conservation projects around the world. She served as lead biodiversity specialist at the World Bank for 16 years where she focused on mainstreaming conservation into development programs, including promoting protected areas as natural solutions to help people cope with climate change and other global challenges. She is currently the chair of the IUCN/World Commission on Protected Areas which is promoting protected areas for both biodiversity conservation and the benefits that they can provide to human wellbeing and livelihoods. She helped to organize the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney in 2014 where a key objective was to demonstrate the relevance of parks to human welfare and development sectors including the health sector. As follow up to the Promise of Sydney, she is keen to explore the nexus between nature conservation, human health, and engaging and inspiring a new generation of conservation supporters including urban communities and youth.