Alicia Bárcena

Alicia Bárcena is Executive Director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica, an international organization set up by UNCED Secretary General Maurice Strong following Rio to track and encourage initiatives on environmental protection and sustainable development.

From 1990 to 1992, she served as Principal Officer on Oceans, Coastal Development and Living Marine Resources for UNCED. She was responsible for preparation and coordination of UNCED documentation in these areas and created the strategy for the preparatory process.

Alicia Bárcena was General Director of the National Institute of Fisheries for the government of Mexico from 1988 through 1990 and has been a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank. She is a past President of Cultural Ecologica, a non-governmental organization whose aim is to induce social participation in environmental programs. She was Under-Secretary of Ecology for the Government of Mexico from 1982 to 1986. She has held many research positions in the field of ecology and has graduate degrees in Public Administration and Natural Resources.