Virgilio Viana is a forest engineer with, Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University, post-doc in sustainable development at the University of Florida. He has been a professor of forest sciences at the Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture, USP, professor at the Department of Forest Sciences at ESALQ / USP from 1989 to 2003 and collaborating professor at the post-graduation course at the National Institute of Amazon Researches (INPA); State Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development of Amazonas, Brazil, from 2003 to 2008.

Former President of the São Paulo Association of Forest Engineers and the Brazilian Society of Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology. He is currently CEO of the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability; chair of the UN initiative: Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the Amazon (SDSN Amazonia); member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Amazon Bioeconomy Alliance (ABIO); Founder of Amazon COVID Alliance and a founding member of the Friends of the Amazon Institute (IAMA); Associated professor of Dom Cabral Foundation.