Victoria Luque leads UNEP's GEF Coordination Office.
A sustainable development expert with over 20 years of experience specializing on the nexus between environment/natural resources and poverty eradication, Victoria previously worked as a Task Manager in UNEP's Ecosystems Division, where she led a global portfolio of projects addressing conservation and land degradation issues for the GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit, mostly in Africa.
Before joining UNEP, Victoria managed Spanish development aid in the DR Congo and led the decentralization strategy of UNDP in Brazil. Victoria holds a Master’s degree in international affairs from Sciences-Po Paris.
She has since worked in a wide range of roles in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management across Africa, Asia and Latin America, including leading UNDP’s decentralization strategy to support local development in Brazil, and overseeing the design and implementation of the joint UNDP and UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), a precursor and prototype of an integrated approach which is now understood to be necessary to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Victoria is a Spanish national and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs, specializing in Development Studies from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po). She is fluent in English, French, German and confident in Portuguese. She enjoys learning about new cultures, sharing culinary delights, experiencing the depths and beauty of the oceans and yoga.
