Dr. Cristiana Paşca Palmer is the United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests of the Government of Romania. She was also Head of the Climate Change, Environment, and Natural Resources Unit within the European Commission’s International Development Agency, EuropeAID. Dr. Paşca Palmer has over twenty years of extensive experience in global policymaking and in coordinating the implementation of environment and sustainable development policies, programmes and projects at the national and international levels. She is also a multidisciplinary practitioner and academic in international development with a strong focus on green economy and environmental sustainability, in addition to business management, international negotiations and environmental diplomacy. Dr. Pasca Palmer received her PhD in International Relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the US, and holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, in addition to a Master of Science in Systems Ecology and Management of Natural Capital from the University of Bucharest in Romania.