Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
Areas of expertise
Law and Environmental Policy, Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change, Financial Mechanisms, Sustainability
Degrees
- M.S. in Environmental Law, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
- Law Degree, University of Costa Rica
Potential student research areas
- Environmental Policy and Law
- Environmental Services
- Climate Change
- Financial Mechanisms for Sustainability
Biography
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez is Vice President, Global Policy Center for Conservation and Government (CCG) Conservation International. He was Minister of the Environment and Energy for the Republic of Costa Rica until 2006. Mr. Rodriguez was a pioneer in the development of ecosystem services (PES). An environmental lawyer, politician and above all, a conservationist, Mr. Rodriguez held several important political and environmental posts in Costa Rica, including Director of the National Parks Service. He is also founder and Board member of many environmental NGOs in Costa Rica and tropical research institutes. His commonsense and visionary idea of identifying, valuing and capturing economic value for standing forest within protected areas, private forests and Indian reserves is one of his internationally recognized achievements. He is internationally recognized as a leader in environmental policy. Due to his passion and hard work, marine conservation is now being fully addressed for the first time in Costa Rica. In marine conservation, he pushed to protect up to 25%, or 12.5 million hectares, of Costa Rica’s marine environments.