José Yunis Mebarak

José Yunis Mebarak is a lawyer, he holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Universidad de los Andes and the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government respectively. José participated actively in the creation of the national environmental system and the new scheme of environmental compensation of Colombia. Collaborated in the expansion and financial strategy to protect the Chiribiquete Natural National Park. For this work, the prestigious magazine SEMANA named him as a character of the year 2013. For his work in favor of the country’s conservation, this same magazine had ranked him as one of the best leaders of Colombia in 2012. He has been head of legal offices of National Parks and the Ministry of the Environment of Colombia, Officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, representative in Colombia The Nature Conservancy. His environmental experience includes countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, consultancies for the World Bank and Inter-American Development, USAID and other international donors. He is a founding partner and representative of the Bahia and Ecosystems Foundation of Colombia, an organization created for the protection of the Bay of Cartagena. Currently José coordinates the Amazon Vision, a national and international effort of 122 million dollars to avoid deforestation in that region.