Mariana Panuncio-Feldman is the senior director for international climate cooperation at WWF, where she coordinates WWF’s efforts to accelerate climate action by national and local governments, businesses and civil society organizations around the world. Mariana oversees WWF’s engagement on the international negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the Global Climate Action Agenda, and works with WWF offices to support the implementation and enhancement of national climate targets. Additionally, Mariana leads Alliances for Climate Action (ACA), a global initiative that supports the emergence of national alliances of companies, cities and other subnational actors committed to driving the zero-carbon transition in their countries.
Prior to this position, Mariana was the director of climate change for WWF’s Latin America and the Caribbean Program (LAC). In that position, she served as the lead and focal point for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the region, responsible for coordinating LAC’s policy strategy in the context of the UNFCCC.
Prior to these roles, Mariana’s focus was on the Amazon. Her roles included co-chairing the technical working group that designed WWF’s blueprint for work in the entire Amazon Biome, and coordinating the implementation of WWF’s efforts on payments for ecosystem services and forest policies in the region. Mariana also managed the Amazon Headwaters Initiative, a tri-national program that has conserved more than 24 million acres of protected areas and indigenous territories in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru, and supported the launch of WWF’s infrastructure program for the Amazon.
Prior to joining WWF, Mariana worked at The Summit Foundation, where she provided programmatic oversight and technical support to the foundation’s grantees in Latin America. Mariana has also worked with The Nature Conservancy in the Peruvian Amazon and with a network of peasant organizations throughout Peru.
Mariana holds a B.A. in biology from Mount Holyoke College, and a M.S. in conservation biology from the University of Maryland. She is originally from Argentina.
