Iliana Monterroso is a Scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research. A Guatemalan national, with a background on Environmental Sciences and Political Ecology. She is currently co-coordinating Gender and Social Inclusion Research at CIFOR. Her research focuses on gender, social inclusion, tenure and collective rights and community forestry predominantly in Latin America with experience in Uganda, Indonesia and Nepal. She has conducted research in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve for over 20 years, collaborating closely with the Peten Association of Community Forest Groups ACOFOP. She has published on different dimensions influencing the socio-economic dynamics of community forest groups. Currently she is working along with the World Agroforestry Center, ICRAF to better understand the political economy influencing the Mayan Biosphere Reserve.