Cristina Larrea

Director, Agriculture, Food and Sustainability Initiatives

Cristina Larrea is the Director of Agriculture, Food and Sustainability Initiatives for IISD’s Economic Law and Policy Program. She has 19 years of experience working in the fields of economic inclusion and sustainability with vulnerable populations in developing countries, including women, Indigenous People and agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises mainly in Latin America and Africa.   

Her career path includes seven years of fieldwork with rainforest community-based organizations in Chiapas, Mexico, leading initiatives for sustainable natural resources management in agroforestry systems and biodiversity conservation, while supporting agribusiness development and market access of local enterprises.

In previous roles, Cristina contributed to the creation of an internationally recognized framework to measure the social, economic and environmental impacts of investments in agricultural enterprises (IRIS from the GIIN), and led initiatives to improve rural enterprises’ bankability to access finance.  

Cristina holds a Master’s degree in International Development from the School of Development Studies at the University of East Anglia, an Executive Development Course from McGill, and a Bachelor in Business Administration. She has authored and co-authored a number of publications in the field of sustainable development, including evaluation of public policy.

Prior to joining IISD, Cristina had served as the Senior Project Developer Consultant with the Global Green Growth Institute, Senior Project Manager with the Finance Alliance for Sustainable Trade and Regional Director for an Oxfam partner in Mexico.

Cristina is fluent is English, French and Spanish.