Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio has 20 years’ experience developing and implementing programmes on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.

Most recently she was a Senior Adaptation and Resilience Advisor with the World Resources Institute and an International Engagement Associate with the Food and Land Use Coalition. 

Previously she was the Action Track Co-Manager for the Global Commission on Adaptation, where she led the development of impact initiatives on locally led adaptation, agriculture and food security amongst others. She was also a Regional Programme manager for Action on Climate Today, a £23 million UK Agency for International Development supported climate change programme that mainstreamed resilience into planning and budgeting at the national and sub-national level in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Based in New Delhi, she managed an implementation team of approximately 40 people across the programme locations.

Cristina was a Senior Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York from 2007-2015, where she developed and managed initiatives regarding building resilience to climate change, water management, small scale fisheries, and preservation of ecosystems and the services they provide to humankind. She managed a grant portfolio of over $100 Million.

Cristina was a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University and a Doctorate in Ecology from the University of Colorado.

She serves on the Board of Governors of the International Water Management Institute and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.