Alvaro Umaña is the director of the Environmentally Sustainable Development Group at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York. He was the first minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Costa Rica under President Oscar Arias. Dr. Umaña is a member of the Jury of the Goldman Environmental Prize. Previously he was director, professor, and founder of the Natural Resources Program of the Instituto Centroamericano de Administracion de Empresas in Alajuela. Dr. Umaña is the former chairman of The World Bank Inspection Panel, which registers complaints on violations of The World Bank’s policies. He is a member of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Resources Institute, and the Stockholm Environment Institute. Dr. Umaña received a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Stanford University, California, USA. He is an alumnus of three Salzburg Seminar/EARTH University Sessions on Sustainability, Education, and Management of Change in 1999, 2000, and 2003.