About Carina's Work
Carina uses her network, management, fundraising and organizing skills to develop high-impact initiatives in conservation. By generating environmental, social and economic benefits on the ground, her projects create impact at local, national and global scales. Carina's career in environmental conservation has been motivated by the challenge of leading multiple actors to synergistically support our precious ecosystems, so that those who depend directly and indirectly on them act in harmony towards long term sustainability. Since completing undergraduate studies in her native Mexico in 1998, she has explored the application of incentive-based conservation mechanisms on forested landscapes and other rural areas, working in the private sector, non-profits and government. Carina graduated with masters from the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) and the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley in 2004. She has since then focused on ecosystem services payment schemes and forest conservation as Manager of the Tropical America Katoomba Group at DC based Forest Trends. Subsequently, her work focused on the climate & forestry policy framework being built in global Climate Change conventions, where she helped advise various governments in Africa and Latin America on accessing funding for their conservation efforts related to climate policies. Carina launched and managed www.ValorandoNaturaleza.org, a Spanish-language sister website of the Ecosystem Marketplace, focusing on news, analysis and information related to activities involving ecosystem services payments and incentives throughout Latin America. Now a climate refugee from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Carina seeks work in her new base in Austin, Texas in the field of conservation and development, utilizing her multilingual project management skills. She is Co-Founder of the growing new Austin Network for International Impact Professionals.
