My Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Alvaro Umaña Quesada
PERSONAL DATA
Date of birth: October 15, 1951
Nationality: Citizen of Costa Rica
Biographical Note
Alvaro Umaña has a unique international career encompassing a wide range of experience in academia, public service, philanthropic institutions and both governmental and non-governmental organizations, that spans over thirty years. His career includes important positions with international organizations like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United Nations, including UNESCO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
He is presently a Senior Research Fellow at CATIE, the Tropical Agronomic Center for Research and Higher Education in Turrialba, Costa Rica. He was also Costa Rica’s Ambassador for Climate Change and was also Chief Negotiator during the past Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen and a member of the Costa Rican delegation at COP21.
Along with Peter Eigen, founder of Transparency International, he co-chairs a new global initiative called Climate Transparency, focused on the climate performance of the G20 countries.
For the past three years he has been involved as senior technical advisor in a partnership focused on adaptation to climate change building resilience in the Caribbean. This effort, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and SIDS-DOCK has focused on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It included the developing of a process-based methodology to assess resilience challenges in different sectors and their interactions and potential co.benefits..
In 2013-2014, Dr. Umaña was Co-Chair of the Independent Advisory Group, appointed to oversee the evaluation of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), a $6.5 billion package of loans and grants administered through the World Bank and a number of other multilateral financial institutions. This program included the Pilot Project on Climate Resilience, which was implemented in several Caribbean countries. He was also Advisor to the implementation of the WAVES Partnership (Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services), including a $1.5 million grant geared to include carbon and water in national income accounts in Costa Rica.
Dr. Umaña was Costa Rica’s first Minister of Energy and Environment from 1986-1990 under president Oscar Arias. He was internationally recognized for his path -breaking contributions to conservation, including the creation of the National Biodiversity Institute (INBIO) and the implementation of innovative financial instruments like debt-for-nature swaps. Under Dr. Umaña leadership, Costa Rica implemented the largest commercial debt-for-nature program of any developing country.
Dr. Umaña has received a number of international awards, including the 1988 President’s Public Service Award from the Nature Conservancy (TNC), a Special Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation (1989) and an Honorary J.D. from Williams College for his work on debt-for-nature. He has been named distinguished alumnus of both Penn State and Stanford universities.
From 1994 to 1998, Alvaro Umaña was a founding member and Chairman (1997-1998) of the World Bank Inspection Panel, an innovative mechanism for transparency and accountability in international organizations. From 1991-2002, Dr. Umaña was a member of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he served as Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Committee of Finance and the Executive Committee. He has been a member of the Board of the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, a foundation started by President Arias to work on disarmament and peaceful resolution of international conflicts.
Since 1990, Dr. Umaña has been a member of the Jury of the Goldman Environmental Prize, a prestigious international award for grassroots environmental achievement. He has also been a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO (1989-1993), the World Resources Institute (1988-2000) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (1994-1999).
Professor Umaña has also been associated with INCAE, one of Latin America’s top schools of business and management, since 1984. He was the leader academic of the energy and sustainable development area, and he was responsible for designing and developing a Master’s level specialization in sustainable development.
Alvaro Umaña holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics with Honors and a Master in Environmental Pollution Control from Pennsylvania State University (1973, 1974). He also holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and Science and a Masters in Economics from Stanford University (1979).
Dr. Umaña is the author of numerous publications and books. His research interests have focused on the energy and environmental dimensions of sustainable development and the political economy of global common resources including biodiversity and climate change. Dr. Umaña has been a representative to the meetings of both the United Nations Convention of Biodiversity and Climate Change and he is familiar with the key issues in both conventions. His most recent books are: “The World Bank Inspection Panel: The First Four Years” (World Bank, 1998) and “Financing for Sustainable Development” (INCAE, 1995). A publication list is available upon request.
Dr. Umaña has extensive experience in evaluation of program and policies. He Chaired an Independent Panel that oversaw the evaluation of the Pilot Phase of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). He was also involved in the OPS/2 evaluation of the GEF in 2002 and is familiar with the policies and operations of the GEF. Most recently he was part of the evaluation of the Capacity 21 program for UNDP.
At UNDP he was also Director of the Energy and Environment Group (EEG) and led UNDP through the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in 2002, and the integrated follow-up of the Johannesburg Plan of action and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s). The EEG has a full time staff of over 120 professionals and a project pipeline (including GEF and Montreal Protocol) of over $250 million per year.
LANGUAGES
Dr. Alvaro Umaña is fluent in Spanish and English and has working knowledge of French, Portuguese and Italian.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Present: Senior Research Fellow, Tropical Agronomic Center for Research and Higher Education (CATIE), Turrialba, Costa Rica and Washington, D.C. (Since August 2009)
June 2007-July 2009: Senior Advisor, Office of the Executive Director for Central America, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela, International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC
2006-2007: Counselor for Costa Rica, Inter American Development Bank, IDB, at Washington, DC.
2001-2005: Principal Adviser and Director, Energy and Leader, Energy and Environment Group, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) until Dec. 2004 and Advisor to Capacity 2015 Program until present time.
1999-2001: Consultant to UNDP, Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and Inter American Development Bank, Lead Evaluator Capacity 21 Program
1994-1998: World Bank Inspection Panel, Founding Member and Chairman
1990-1999: Professor and Director of Masters Program in Sustainable Development at INCAE, the Central American School of Management
1986-1990: First Minister of Energy and Environment, Republic of Costa Rica
1984-1986: Associate Professor, Central American Management Institute (INCAE)
1982-1984: UNDP Energy Advisor to Government of Costa Rica
1980-1982 Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), Quito, Ecuador: Head of Programs of Rational energy Use and Environment
1974-1979: Research Assistant and Lecturer, Stanford University
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Dr. Alvaro Umaña has over 25 years of teaching experience starting at Stanford University, where he developed and taught a course: “Political Economy of the Environment” for three years as part of the Stanford Workshop on Political and Social Issues (SWOPSI). In 1994 he was invited back to Stanford as Shimizu Visiting Professor of Environmental Engineering.
Starting in 1984, Dr. Umaña has been in the faculty of the Central American School of Management (INCAE), one of Latin America’s top schools of business and management.
Dr. Umaña joined INCAE in 1984 as Director of the Energy Program, and after a leave to become Costa Rica’s first Minister of Energy and Environment with president Arias, he returned to INCAE in 1990, when he was promoted to Professor. In 1990, with the support of the Ford and MacArthur Foundations, Dr. Umaña launched a research and teaching program on financial mechanisms to support conservation and started developing the basis for a Masters Program in Sustainable Development.
Dr. Umaña’s responsibilities as Director included curriculum design, faculty and student recruitment and resources mobilization. In addition to a common first year, share by all MBA students, the new program included six specialized courses developed and taught initially by Dr. Umaña:
- Economics of Environment and Natural Resources
- Sustainable Economic Development
- Eco-efficiency: Energy and Materials Management
- Policy, Planning and Legislation for Sustainable Development
- Project Evaluation and Environmental Impact Assessment
- Management of protected Areas
After developing and initially teaching most of these courses, Dr. Umaña was responsible for recruiting five faculty members, developing a Latin America wide recruiting strategy for students and raising scholarship support to help bring high quality students to the program. From 1992 to 1999, when Dr. Umaña led the program, over 120 students from 20 countries of Latin America, Europe and the United States attended the program. Dr. Umaña was responsible for the academic quality, faculty recruitment and fundraising for the program (over $3 million).
Dr. Umaña has been guest lecturer at many academic institutions, including American University, UC Berkeley, Duke, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, University of Vermont, George Washington University Stanford University and the University of Washington. His areas of specialty deal with the role natural resources in economic development, ecological and environmental economics, and legal/institutional frameworks for sustainable development.
Dr. Umaña has published in the areas of energy and resource economics, financial instruments to support sustainable development and the political economy of global common resources as they relate to key issues like biodiversity loss or climate change. At UNDP, he has continued to teach seminars in the area of financial mechanisms to support sustainable development, including debt-swaps, environment funds and systems of payment for environmental services. Dr. Umaña has been a representative to the UN Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate Change in several occasions and he is working on a monograph on alternatives to break the present stalemate in global climate negotiations.
As a founding member of the World Bank Inspection Panel, Dr. Umaña has also published in the areas of transparency and accountability in international organizations and aid delivery systems.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS:
Alvaro Umaña and Isaac Perez. Financing Sustainable Development. INCAE, Alajuela, 1995.
Alvaro Umaña. The Heritage of Our National Resources. Imprenta Nacional, San José 1990.
Alvaro Umaña and Guillermo Selva. Energy Management. INCAE, Alajuela, 1986.
Alvaro Umana and Eduardo Doryan. Energy for Development. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, 1982.
Herman Daly and Alvaro Umaña, Editors. Energy, Economics and the Environment: Conflicting Views of an Essential Interrelationship. AAAS Selected Symposium 64, Westview Press, 1981.
MOST CITED ARTICLES:
Selim Jehan and Alvaro Umana. The environment-poverty nexus. Development Journal, UNDP, 2003.
Alvaro Umana. Towards a Bio-Physical Foundation for Economics. In H Daly and A Umana Eds. Energy Economics and the Environment: Conflicting Views of an Essential Interrelationship . Westview Press. AAAS, 1981.
OTHER ARTICLES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
Umaña, P. Kruger and A. Stoker. Radon in Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. Geothermics, Vol. 5, 1977.
Umaña and J.O. Leckie. Kinetics of Oxidative Dissolution of Pyrite in Aqueous Chlorine Species. Proceedings 146th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Miami, 1978.
Alvaro Umaña. The Political Economy of the Environment. Master’s Degree Thesis, Stanford University, 1978.
Alvaro Umaña and J. O. Leckie. Reactivities of Aqueous Chlorine with FeS2 Substrates. In. R. Jolley, Ed. Environmental Impact of Water Chlorination. Ann Arbor Science, 1980.
Alvaro Umana. Energia, Recursos y la Crisis de la Teoria Economica. Memoria del Seminario “Crisis Internacional y su Impacto en America Latina” CENDES/UNAM/ILDIS, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1981.
Alvaro Umana and J. L. Calabrese. Analisis del Balance Energetico de America Central. Boletin Energetico #21, OLADE, Quito, 1981.
Alvaro Umana and Gabriel Sanchez. Analisis Cuantitativo de la Participacion de la Biomasa en el Consumo Energetico de America Latina. Boletin Energetico #21, OLADE, Quito, 1981.
Umana, G. Sanchez and D. Otero. Estimaciones de la Demanda Futura de Energia para America Latina. Boletin Energetico #21, OLADE, Quito, 1981.
Alvaro Umana. Energia y Evaluacion del Impacto Ambiental. Revista Energetica #24, OLADE, Quito, 1982.
Alvaro Umana and Roque Sevilla. Por Que Canjear Deuda por Naturaleza. World Resources Institute, Washington, 1988.
Alvaro Umaña. Debt-for-Nature Swaps as a Mechanism to Create Value for Sustainable Development. Proceedings of the Tokyo conference on the Global Environment, Government of Japan. Tokyo, 1989.
Alvaro Umana. Economics of Energy and Natural Resources: Review of an Expanding Field of Transdisciplinary Research. In Ashok. V. Desai, Editor. Energy Economics. IDRC/UNU/Wiley Eastern, 1990.
Alvaro Umaña. Costa Rica’s Fight for the Tropics. Encyclopedia Britannica. Science and the Future Yearbook, 1990.
Alvaro Umaña. Biomass and the South’s Response to Climate Change. Proceedings of the Ministerial Conference on Atmospheric Pollution and Climate Change. Government of the Netherlands/UNEP/WMO, The Hague, 1990.
Alvaro Umaña. Debt-for-Nature Swaps to Promote Sustainability in Latin America. U.S. Congressional Record. Testimony presented before the Subcommittees on Western hemisphere Affairs and Human Rights and International Organizations, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, July 10, 1990.
Alvaro Umaña. Banks, Debt and Development. International Environmental Affairs, Vol. 2, #2, 1990.
Katrina Brandon and Alvaro Umana. Rooting for Costa Rica’s Megaparks. Americas, Vol. 43, Number 3, 1991.
Alvaro Umaña. Non-Governmental Organizations and Environmental Management: Lessons from the Costa Rican Experience. Erol. D, Editor. Environmental Management in Developing Countries. OECD. Paris, 1991.
Alvaro Umana. Debt-for-Nature in the Nineties. Proceedings of the IV World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas, IUCN, Caracas, Venezuela, 1992.
Alvaro Umaña. Alternatives for Developing Countries: The Role of the South. Proceedings of the IX Malente Symposium on Economic Revolution, Challenges and Opportunities in the XXI Century, Draegger Foundation, 1992.
Alvaro Umaña. An Ombudsman for Humanitarian Assistance: Conceptual Framework and Pilot Project in Central America. Proposal to the World Disaster Congress, INCAE/ British Red Cross, London, 1999.
Manning, K. Rochelle, A. Umaña and I. Johnson. Linking Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management: Policy Challenges and Opportunities. DFID, European Union, UNDP, World Bank, London, 2002.
Umaña, et al., Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor. The World Bank, Washington, 2003 (Published on behalf of twelve agencies ADB, DFID, EU, DGIS Netherlands, BMZ Germany, OECD, UNDP, UNEP and World Bank, Washington, 2002.
Selim Jehan and Alvaro Umaña. The Environment /Poverty Nexus. Development Policy Journal, Vol 3, April 2003.
MAJOR EVALUATION REPORTS
Alvaro Umana, Chair. Independent Evaluation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Pilot Phase. The World Bank, Washington, 1991.
Alvaro Umana, et al. Independent Evaluation of the Global Capacity 21 Program. UNDP, New York, 2002.
WEB BASED DATA
Google records show over 500 scholar citations.
VIDEOS & SPEECHES
Click on the video below for a playlist of relevant videos and speeches of Alvaro Umaña.