Yossi Ghinsberg

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Yossi Ghinsberg was born and raised in Israel and served three years in the Israeli Navy on the Red Sea where he befriended the Bedouins of the Sinai Desert. After he was released from service, he traveled on a wandering backpacking journey through South America. During the trip, he was separated from his traveling companions and became lost in the Bolivian rainforest for over a month during the height of the rainy season. The tale of his survival is chronicled in his first book, Jungle, which was first published in 1986. The Discovery Channel released a documentary film based on the book in 2005. Yossi's new book 'Laws of the Jungle' is published in the USA on November 2006.

In 1992, Yossi returned to the Amazon to initiate The Chalalan Project, demonstrating that the best strategy to conserve pristine rainforest is sustainable development in cooperation with indigenous inhabitants rather than mere conservation. Yossi promoted recognition of intellectual properties for indigenous people.

In 1995, he was appointed Vice President of The Center for Investigation & Treatment of Addiction (CITA). In this capacity, Yossi promoted a new humanitarian approach to treatment of opiates addiction, establishing 12 treatment and research centers around the world from Mexico to China and finally establishing and managing his own clinics in Australia where he also launched the 'Alma Libre' initiative to educate society about opiates addiction and promote reintegration of rehabilitated patients.

In 2001, during the peak of the Palestinian Intifada, Yossi was invited to return to Israel to produce a reconciliation festival. The festival managed to attract spiritual leaders of Judaism and Islam as well in unprecedented audiences.