Gmelina Juliana Ramirez

Gmelina Juliana Ramirez

Gmelina is an Environmental Economist who has worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as a Forestry Expert, Climate Change Specialist and currently holds the position of Lead Specialist in Concessional Finance. She provides strategic and technical leadership in using climate and sustainability funding in Bank operations, including serving as the Executive Coordinator of the IDB GEF Technical Coordination. As Climate Change Senior Specialist, Gmelina was responsible for coordinating Mexico´s Climate Change portfolio, which was the most robust IDB country-portfolio in the Latin-American region. In this position she promoted efforts to channel climate financing to various sectors, including energy, water and sanitation, forestry and agriculture, and housing and urban development, to support the country's low-carbon and resilient development. This was promoted through policy development, capacity building and investment projects. Before joining the IDB, Gmelina worked for the Mexican government for six years as part of the core team that introduced the climate change agenda to the country's forestry sector. She also worked as a consultant on climate change policy, REDD+ and integrated watershed management for development agencies and a Mexican non-governmental organization that promotes community management of natural resources. Gmelina holds a B.A in Economics & Environmental and Resource Studies from Trent University, a M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the University of British Colombia, and she is a graduate from the Leadership for Environment and Development Program from El Colegio de Mexico.