Garo Batmanian is the World Bank’s Lead Environment Specialist for Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice.
He joined the Bank in 2004 and worked in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region as a Senior Environmental Specialist and as the Coordinator of the Pilot Program for the Amazon Rainforest funded by the G7. Earlier he worked as the CEO for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Brazil and as the LAC Program Director of WWF, USA. Garo has extensive experience in environmental management, forestry, carbon finance, and rural development areas and has led or been involved in the Bank’s analytic work and lending operations focusing on environmental sustainability in Brazil. Until recently, Garo was a Lead Environment Specialist for China and Mongolia based in the Beijing’s Office. In that capacity, he led work in a wide array of operations and analyses in the agricultural, environment and forestry sectors, including linkages with the climate change agenda.
Garo holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia in the USA.