Mr. Kazuyoshi Kodaira is a Head of the Nikkei ESG Business Office at Nikkei BP. After working at a manufacturing company and a news agency, he joined Nikkei BP in 2000. He served at the automotive and financial sectors at the editorial department of Nikkei Business, and later served on secondment to the Consumer Industries Department of Nikkei Inc., as well as as Head of the Shanghai Bureau. He was an Editor-in-Chief of Nikkei Top Leader in 2022, and a Director of the Nikkei ESG Management Forum Business Office in 2023. He was appointed to his current position as Head of the Nikkei ESG Business Office at Nikkei BP in 2026.

Marco Lambertini, Convener of the Nature Positive Initiative.
Marco was WWF International Director General and Global Director of Network and Programme and subsequently CEO of BirdLife International.
Marco’s experience and career range from ecological field research to engagement with the corporate and financial sector, and international environmental governance.
Marco is a long-standing member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), the UNILEVER Sustainability Advisory Council, the Board of Directors for the Fondation Prince Albert II of Monaco, co-chair of the Nature Action 100 Science Council, founding member of the Nature Action agenda and Friends of Ocean Action at WEF, and a former member of the UN Global Compact Board.
Marco is the lead author of the recently published book “Becoming Nature Positive: transitioning to a safe and just future” (2025, Earthscan Routledge, London) and the Executive Director of the film "Becoming Nature Positive," produced by the Nature Positive Initiative and open Planet Studios."

Prof. Kaori Fujita is a professor at Tohoku University. Her primary research areas include biodiversity, natural capital and corporate operation, ESG/TNFD, and nature-positive corporate management. After graduating from University of Tokyo, she worked at Nikkei BP as a journalist of Nikkei Electronics and Nikkei Electronics Asia, Deputy Editor of National Geographic Japan, a member of the editorial board of Nikkei Ecology, a producer of the Nikkei ESG Management Forum, and a Senior Editor of Nikkei ESG. She was also an affiliate professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Toyama. She is currently both a professor at Green Goals Initiative and a professor at the Graduate School of Life Sciences, and a Deputy Director of Nature Positive Sustainable Development Hub, Tohoku University. She is also an ESG Executive Fellow at Nikkei BP. Her publications include Biodiversity and Natural Capital Corporate Management in the Era of SDGs and ESG (Nikkei BP) and An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Biodiversity and Nature-Positive Corporate Management in the Age of ESG and TNFD.

Mr. Tepppei Doke is is the Chair of the Japan Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN-J). Since 2003, he has been affiliated with the Japan Nature Conservation Society (NACS-J), as a member of the IUCN-J Secretariat, he has long been engaged in research and analysis of international trends related to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and IUCN, as well as in disseminating information domestically and internationally. He has participated continuously in the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD since COP9, coordinating and fostering networks among government bodies, companies, researchers, and NGOs. He was appoieted to his current position in April 2025.

After graduating from university, Mr. Eiji Sakai joined the Ship & Ocean Foundation and then joined the Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) in 2015. He subsequently served as Deputy Director of OPRI and as Director of the General Affairs Department before being appointed as an Executive Director of SPF in 2023.

Mr. Masanori Kobayashi is Senior Research Fellow of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), and formerly Program Director of SPF, Senior Research Fellow of the Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of SPF till. He undertakes research work on ocean and sustainability policy including sustainable blue economies, marine environment and resource management, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution control, ocean based renewable energies, and regional and international cooperation and partnership. He worked on sustainability issues at the Ocean Policy Research Foundation, the Yokohama National University, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, the United Nations (New York, Geneva and Bonn) and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His publications include Kobayashi, M. et al (2022) Capitalizing on Co-Benefits and Synergies to Promote the Blue Economy in Asia and the Pacific”. In: Morgan, P. et al. eds. Blue Economy and Blue Finance – Toward Sustainable Development and Ocean Governance. Asian Development Bank Institute, pp. 150 – 189. He has been speaking and moderating various sessions including some of the recent ones such as the Honiara Summit on Sustainable Fisheries in Feb. 2025, Ocean Pavillion at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Nikkei Blue Ocean Forum, the World Ocean Summit 2023 and 2024, Our Ocean Conference 2023 in Panama and OOC 2022 in Palau.