Marina Djernaes is the director of EcoPeace's Center for Water Security in Washington DC with an objective to apply EcoPeace's expertise globally and to advance water security. Previously, she was the executive operating officer of EcoPeace Middle East with responsibility for operational capacity development and strategic planning. She has an excess of twenty years of experience in sustainable international development and strategic management in the Middle East, USA, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. Her recent publications include "Evaluation of Environmental Peacemaking Interventions Strategies in Jordan-Israel-Palestine" in the Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. As co-author to a World Bank policy framework on climate change impact, she worked on environmental impact, and risks and adaptation strategies in the Arab world considering human development, sustainable livelihoods, capacity building, good governance, land and water use, biodiversity, and natural resources. Additionally, her prior work includes being a director at Greenpeace, and a co-founder of the educational enterprise New Advisory Group. She has a master of environmental science from Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A. from the American University in Washington DC.