Barbara Bendandi works as a migration and environment policy officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). She is in charge of the initiative "West Africa: promoting sustainable land management in migration-prone areas through innovative financing mechanisms", which aims at designing incentives and promoting policies to channel remittances and promote diaspora investments towards land rehabilitation. Previously, she has worked for other international organizations in the field of environmental conservation (UNCCD and IUCN) and advised the Italian government as an environmental expert for the G8/G20 Office. She earned a master's degree in public administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (New York) and is pursuing a Ph.D. in economics at Ca' Foscari University (Venice) to research on how to channel migrants' contribution towards climate compatible development.