Martha Rojas Urrego
Martha Rojas Urrego is a biologist, ecologist and humanitarian, gender and environmental advocate. She is a Colombian and French national. In August 2016 she was appointed as the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Previously she was Head of Global Advocacy and Acting Deputy Secretary General at humanitarian organization CARE International. Life and work Martha Rojas Urrego has a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Los Andes, Colombia. She also studied at the University of Montpellier, France, where she obtained a Specialized Higher Studies Diploma (DESS) in Ecology and Management of Natural Environment. She also holds a Master of Science in Geography from the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. As Executive Director of the National Park Service in Colombia, she led policy development, planning and management of the 42 protected areas of National Parks System. In 1994 she worked on the transformation of Colombia's National Institute of Renewable Natural Resources and Environment (INDERENA) into the Ministry of Environment. Later in 1994 she moved to Switzerland to work as Biodiversity Policy Advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2002 she was named Head of IUCN's Global Policy Unit and for seven years she