Ms. Bárcena assumed office as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on 1 July 2008.

She had previously served as the Under-Secretary-General for Management at United Nations Headquarters in New York, a post to which she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 3 January 2007.

Between that date and March 2006, she had served as Deputy Chef de Cabinet and then as Acting Chef de Cabinet to the former Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan.

From 1 July 2003 until 28 February 2006, Alicia Bárcena held the post of Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC, where she had previously served as the Director of that institution's Environment and Human Settlements Division. During her tenure in that position, she focused on public policies for sustainable development, with particular reference to the linkages existing among environmental, economic and social issues.

Prior to her time at ECLAC, Ms. Bárcena served as Co-ordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Sustainable Development Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and as Co-ordinator of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), where she was responsible for the Environmental Citizenship Project.

Alicia Bárcena was the Founding Director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica, a non-governmental organization in charge of follow-up to the agreements reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. In this connection, she also worked with the UNCED Secretariat as the principal officer in charge of various topics relating to Agenda 21.

She had previously served the Government of Mexico as Director General of the National Institute of Fisheries and as Deputy Minister for Ecology during the term of President Miguel de la Madrid.

Ms. Bárcena's extensive experience in international organizations also includes various consultancies with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Her work in the environmental field has included her service as President of Cultura Ecológica, a not-for-profit non-governmental organization in Mexico, and as Co-ordinator of the South-East Regional Centre of the National Institute for Research on Biotic Resources in the State of Yucatan.

In the academic arena, Ms. Bárcena has taught and conducted research in the fields of botany, ethnobotany and ecology, as well as designing programmes of study in the areas of ecology and botany for the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico. She has published numerous articles on sustainable development, public policy, environmental issues, and global citizenship and public participation.

Alicia Bárcena holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology, has completed the course of study required for the degree of Master in Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and holds a Master degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

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