He was the first Minister of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica (MINAE- 1986 to 1990), and during his term he put into practice innovative programs such as the first governmental program for biodiversity that led to the creation of the National Institute of Biodiversity, INBio.
He was a consultant for climate change to the Figueres Administration from 1994 to 1998. He has extended experience with international financial institutions and more recently was the primary consultant for Central American in the International Monetary Fund Directory from 2007 to 2009.
He was senior consultant of the International Development Bank from 2006-2007 and founding member from 1994 to 1998 and then president from 1997 to 1998 of the World Bank Inspection Panel. From 2001 to 2005 he was the principal consultant and chief of the energy and environmental group at PNUD in New York and also presided over the International Fund for Renewable and Efficient Energy from 1990 to 1995.
He has had a long trajectory in international environmental negotiations attending the Earth Summit as a delegate in 1992, as well as an ambassador from Costa Rica for climate change at the COP 1 in Berlin and in the COP 15 in Copenhagen and was the consultant from Costa Rica to the COP 16 in Cancún. Currently he is the senior research fellow EFV in CATIE in Costa Rica and works as a consultant for PNUD regarding institutional architecture and financing for climate change in Costa Rica.
He has a degree in physics with honors (1973) and a M.Sc. for control of environmental contamination (1974) from Penn State University and a PhD in environmental engineering and a master's degree in an economy from Stanford University (1979).
