Q&A Women change markers in the world of wetlands

What personal experience has shaped or inspired your journey?

Since I was a child, I've been brought up in a culture of work, effort, personal commitment, responsibility and love. I enjoyed school, I loved learning and I was very curious. My family was very supportive. They gave me the privilege to choose what I wanted to do. They trusted me. I never felt that I had to follow a particular path, but that I was responsible for the choices I made. I was driven by my interests and passions. I was interested in many different things, from history and maths to music and dance. My parents always supported my requests to take special courses in different subjects. It was inspiring to have the support and trust of my family and to be able to follow my curiosity and motivation. At the same time, it created a strong sense of responsibility to do something relevant to our family values. I always felt the need to do something that was interesting to me, but relevant or impactful to others. This sense of working for a greater purpose than any individual objective has always been present in my life.  

What is the influential figure that has inspired your actions and what specifically about them has been motivating?

Eugenia Kalnay, she was a climate scientist. Born in Argentina, she left the country after a military coup and developed her career in the US, where she held successive leadership positions from academia to the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. She was a brilliant scientist and an exceptional human being. She never forgot her country, her roots, she was grateful for the opportunities she had, she always fought against injustice, she had an extreme humility, she was eager to teach and to engage with new generations, she was eager to give opportunities to researchers worldwide, but especially from the Global South. She was an inspiration to many generations in our field.  

In your conservation efforts for wetlands, what key challenge did you face and how has this experience fuelled your dedication to making a positive impact?

Wetlands can be seen as a key component of the climate system. Everything the World Meteorological Organization does is related to the environment and its conservation. If you think about monitoring temperature, humidity, wind, rain (among many other variables) and predicting what will happen on different time scales from hours to decades... this would not be possible without taking into account the conditions on land and the exchanges between land, oceans, atmosphere, vegetation and all the elements we have on our planet.  

A key challenge is to have a deep understanding of these interactions, because we don't have enough data to show the state of wetlands and how they are evolving. What we do know is that they are extremely fragile, and their balance is far from assured under current patterns of production and consumption. Land use and degradation are part of a complex tension between development needs and wetlands/climate protection.  

Science is a tool for improving understanding and informing action. As such, it has a huge positive impact.  

Being part of the UN system also has a positive impact: Finding a common understanding of risks and opportunities is essential for addressing conflicts. When there are apparently conflicting interests at stake, multilateralism has a crucial role to play, seeking consensus and building on the best available options.

As a woman who has made significant strides, where can you say investment is required to accelerate progress and empower women’s actions for wetlands?

Women's participation is crucial. To increase their participation we need to work from the beginning, with education and training opportunities, with scholarships. Understanding the challenges women face in different environments and cultures, making sure they can engage and participate, supporting them when they are on maternity leave, or when they are single mothers, or when they have other responsibilities that prevent them from realizing their potential. We need to create working environments and organizational arrangements where raising a family is not an obstacle to career development.