Tasso Azevedo is a Forestal Engineer, he got his degree from the School of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz in 1994. He majored in Forestry Policy (Oxford University, England, 1997) and later got a Forest Certification in Sweden, back in1998.
He was a researcher and was associate it to the Institute of Forestry Research and Studies in 1995. In the period from 1995 to 2002 he was also co-founder and CEO of the Institute of Forest Management, Certification and Agriculture. Tasso was a pioneer in implementing FSC certification in Brazil.
In 2003, he became director of the Ministry of Environment in the government of President Lula, Tasso worked at the National Forest Program. He promoted an inclusive improvement of the sector, particularly in the incentive system for sustainable production. He was also responsible for the articulation of the Law on Public Forest Management, which regulates the management equivalent to 300 million hectares and established the National Forest Development Fund.
Between 2006 and 2009, Azevedo became first general director of the Brazilian Forest Service. During the past period at the Forest Service, Tasso has worked on the implementation of the policy and management of public forests and he also was the main coordinator of the Amazon Fund, the largest fund for forest conservation and sustainable management of the world.
Since April 2009, he decided to move to Sao Paulo to begin acting as a consultant on sustainability, forests and climate change. Ever since, he has been one of the main articulators by reducing the greenhouse effect emissions in Brazil.
Tasso has been honored with the Bright Award (A Stanford University award) which recognizes individuals who make significant contributions to global environmental conservation. In the past 18 years, Azevedo’s innovative approach in promoting forest management techniques has helped to reduce the rate of deforestation in the Amazon by 80 percent, and resulted in a reduction of 35 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. His work has inspired similar efforts around the world.