Celina Thaller de Zárate is a programme officer at SwedBio, working to advance rights-based, equitable and participatory approaches to biodiversity governance from local to global levels

Thaller de Zárate works as a Programme Officer within the SwedBio programme at Stockholm Resilience Centre. SwedBio supports just and sustainable governance and management of biodiversity through partnerships, knowledge exchange and policy engagement. In her previous role as Finance Administrator and Communications Officer at SwedBio, she was responsible for managing administrative processes, coordinating staff meetings, and developing internal and external communication materials, as well as organising policy-related events and press conferences.

Prior to joining SwedBio and Stockholm Resilience Centre, she worked as a Junior Project Manager at the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Munich. There, she contributed to EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects addressing renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy poverty alleviation in Southeast Europe. Her professional experience spans international development cooperation, project management, policy-relevant analysis and stakeholder engagement across different governance levels..

Thaller de Zárate has an interdisciplinary academic background in sustainable development and international studies. She holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Development from Uppsala University, Sweden, where her research focused on water sustainability in the global clothing industry, with particular attention to the interconnections between social equity and environmental sustainability. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau, Germany.

Her work focuses on strengthening the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples and local communities in biodiversity-related policy processes, particularly under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). She contributes to policy discussions related to Article 8(j), equity and justice, and the implementation and monitoring of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

She contributes to multi-actor dialogue processes, and works at the interface of science, policy and practice. Her role includes programme planning and implementation, partner support and capacity development, synthesis of learning and evidence, and contributions to policy-relevant outputs. Thaller de Zárate mainly engages in international biodiversity policy processes, including CBD negotiations and related technical bodies, and coordinates an informal working group to promote human rights-based, equitable approaches to biodiversity conservation.

Across her work, Thaller de Zárate brings a strong commitment to equity, participation and dialogue across knowledge systems. She is particularly interested in approaches that foster trust, learning and collective action in complex policy spaces, and in creating conditions for meaningful engagement of rights-holders in global environmental governance.