Gonzalo is an ecologist recognized as a global leader in the promotion of sustainability, with an emphasis on innovative free market solutions to environmental issues. As executive director of Earthna, he guides the center’s mandate of enhancing Qatar’s role within the global sustainability policy ecosystem.
His previous positions including Managing Director for External Affairs at Pluspetrol, Latin America’s largest private oil and gas company; Chairman of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel in Washington D.C.; Managing Director of Sustainable Forestry Management for the Americas; Head of Biodiversity at the Global Environmental Facility, also in Washington D.C.; Lead Environmental Specialist at the World Bank; and Director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Latin American and Caribbean Program.
Gonzalo founded Ecosystem Services LLC, which generates carbon offsets through avoiding deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, and Wetlands for the Americas (now Wetlands International). He has acted as a consultant for multilateral and bilateral agencies, governments, and NGOs, and published over 250 articles in scientific journals, magazines, and books, as well as authoring two books himself.
He received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Population Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and holds a Master of Science in Biophysics and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru.