Santa Ana, San Jose, Costa Rica
I work at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, biodiversity, nature-based solutions, and sustainable land-use systems. For more than 25 years, I have designed and led field-based sustainability initiatives across tropical agricultural landscapes, working with farmers, cooperatives, NGOs, companies, donors, and technical teams. My focus is on turning strong environmental ideas into practical systems that can be implemented in real landscapes and adopted by farming communities. My experience includes regenerative agriculture training, agrobiodiversity, integrated pest management, biodiversity-positive farming systems, landscape assessments, sustainability standards, community monitoring, and technical project design. I have worked across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and West Africa, including programs with smallholder farmers and global sustainability partners. I previously served as Standards & Policy Director for the Rainforest Alliance certification system, where I led standards and methodology development linked to sustainable agriculture, assurance, compliance, and stakeholder engagement. Today, I continue to focus on solutions that connect technical credibility, farmer relevance, biodiversity outcomes, and long-term resilience. I am especially interested in regenerative agriculture models that are practical, measurable, financially viable, and capable of creating value for farmers, landscapes, and supply chains.
I have been managing the standards and policy development for the SAN/RA sustainable agriculture certification system for almost 11 years. My leadership in SAN standard setting resulted in the adaptation of the SAN Sustainable Agriculture Standard for more than 100 crops in almost 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a standard for sustainable cattle production systems, a new group certification system, practical approaches for ecosystem conservation and science-based policies for pesticide risk management. I have been giving support services for SAN member organizations in terms of training on standards and policies, guidance about how to interpret SAN standards in specific local contexts and providing the network’s board of directors with quality inputs for its decision-making and governance processes. My passion for working in the practical implementation of sustainability programs, originates from the desire to create a symbiosis of agriculture production, biodiversity conservation and good labor conditions and started with my tropical biology and Wildlife Management and Conservation studies. It was further increased through research on amphibian and bird diversity in banana plantations and cattle ranches, as well as teaching in natural resource management graduate and postgraduate programs before starting my work with the SAN/RA sustainable agriculture program.
Technical Coordinator, Certification Program, Sustainable Agriculture Division, Rainforest Alliance
Coordinator of the Master Program (M.Sc.) for Natural Resource Management, Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED) and Professor of “Thesis Workshop”.
Professor of the courses “Wildlife Management” and “Certification Systems”, Natural Science School, UNED
Consultant, Trainer and Lead Auditor for the Rainforest Alliance Certified Program and verifier for CAFÉ Practices