NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the new Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Michael Møller, the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Espinosa Garcés served as Minister of National Defense of Ecuador from November 2012 to October 2014. She was Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Ecuador from October 2009 to November 2012. She served as Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York from 2008 to 2009. She was also Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration of Ecuador from January 2007 to January 2008. She worked at the World Conservation Union from 2005 to 2007, including as Regional Director for South America.

During her career, Ms. Espinosa Garcés has worked on numerous projects on improving environmental conservation and sustainable development, the rights of indigenous peoples, gender, migration and regional integration initiatives, among others. She has also played leadership roles in multilateral negotiations on a number of international conventions.

Ms. Espinosa Garcés has a Ph.D. in environmental geography from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey; a Master’s Degree in interdisciplinary social sciences from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Quito; and a Bachelor of Arts in applied linguistics from the Catholic University of Ecuador, Quito. She was born on 7 September 1964. She has published more than 30 articles and co-authored five books on geopolitics and the environment, indigenous rights and international cooperation for the environment, among others, and has taught courses in universities in Ecuador, Cuba, Chile and the United States.


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CR15.001E