Maria Darrigo

Maria has been working with natural resource management and regional development projects for the last 15 years. Most of her work was conducted in the Amazon, focusing on education, environment, climate change, quality of life for local people, and public policy implementation.

She joined some important international NGOs in Brazil working with campaigning, international and national advocacy, and engagement with many different actors, like the government, meat companies, indigenous leaders, and others. In addition, she worked for the Amazonas government, coordinating actions for the regional development of border areas, especially between Peru, Colombia, and Brazil.

She is also a researcher focused on forests conservation, public policies, and regional development. Maria is a biologist and holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from UNICAMP (with an internship at UNAM Mexico). She also had a postdoc at the University of Florida in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. She also holds a master's degree in biology from Universidade de Sao Paulo.