David Vivas Eugui is Chief of Ocean and Circular Economy Unit, a.i., Trade, Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Branch, at UNCTAD.

Previously, he was a Senior Economic Affairs Officer in UNCTAD’s Trade Negotiations and Commercial Diplomacy Branch, Deputy Programmes Director at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL),  Attaché for Legal Affairs at the Mission of Venezuela to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Staff Attorney at the Venezuelan Institute of Foreign Trade. David is an international expert with more than 20 years of experience on legal and economic issues.

He has worked as an advisor and consultant for various institutions, international and national organizations and has lectured on intellectual property, trade, oceans economy and environmental law at the University of Strasbourg (CEIPI), Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Universidad Javeriana (Colombia), Maastricht University (the Netherlands), WIPO Distant Learning Academy, and University of Business and International Studies (Switzerland).

He holds a JD from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello, an LLM from Georgetown University and a Master in Transnational Business from the Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Francine Pickup is UNDP’s Deputy Director in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) beginning 1st June 2022.

Prior to her appointment, Francine was Resident Representative in Serbia, Resident Representative a.i. / Country Director in India and Deputy Country Director in Indonesia. Before that, she worked as the Strategic Planning Advisor in RBAP and led the UN’s Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit under the Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary General in Iraq.

Francine joined the UN in 2002, working with OCHA in Lebanon, Palestine and New York, as well as the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and FAO in Palestine, and ILO in Central Asia. Aside from the UN, she has worked with several development organisations, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and the World Bank.

Francine received her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University, her Masters in Development Studies and PhD on local level responses to new market forces in Russia, both from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She has publications on topics including innovative and Islamic financing, aid effectiveness, humanitarian aid policy, economies in transition, livelihoods, the informal economy and gender and development. She is married with three children and loves tennis, running and the outdoors.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica. Doctor of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany.

Former President of the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (2010-2013) and International Arbitrator for the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Costa Rica and the Republic of Chile (2007).

He was also Professor of International Law at the University of Costa Rica (1984-1994). His practice areas include international law, investment, commercial and contracts law, arbitration and ADR, tax and real estate. He is fluent in Spanish, English and German.

Professor Manuel Barange is Assistant Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Director of its Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. He is an honorary professor at the University of Exeter, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, CAFS, China.

Barange was Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Science at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) and Chair of the scientific committee of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Professor Barange is a global fisheries and aquaculture expert, with particular focus on climate and anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems and on the role of aquatic foods in ending hunger and poverty.

He has over 130 academic publications and is the lead Editor of the FAO flagship biennial publication “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture”. He has contributed to several IPCC reports and was Review Editor of the IPCC special report on Oceans and the Cryosphere (SROCC). In 2010 he was awarded the UNESCO-IOC Roger Revelle Medal for his contribution to ocean science.

Ms. Susan Gardner has over two decades of experience in science and environmental policy working for both the Mexican and United States governments.  She was a senior official in the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration focused on fisheries science and ocean conservation.  Prior to this position, she was a senior official at the U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and worked for the Mexican Federal Government as an environmental scientist at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste. She has a Doctoral Degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Washington, a Master of Science Degree in Toxicology from North Carolina State University, and a bachelor's degree in Marine Science from Long Island University. Her research has generated over 30 publications including a book and book chapters on topics related to ecology, toxicology, fisheries management and species conservation.