FRANCISCO ARIAS-ISAZA

INVEMAR

General Director

Francisco A. ARIAS-ISAZA, Buga, Colombia. Captain (Ret) Colombian Navy holds a title as Expert in Chemistry and Biology (1979), Marine Biology of Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (1982) and DEA in Coastal Management of Nantes University (1996). Through his career in the Navy engaged in marine research, oceanographic cruises, academic support and mostly in the development of the foundations for Colombia´s coastal zone management. With the establishment of the Ministry of Environment of Colombia (1993) Captain Arias-Isaza was elected the first director of the transformed Marine and Coastal Research Institute – INVEMAR (1995). Since then, his commitment has been to bring the Institute to become a top research institution focused in bringing knowledge to support sound decision making towards the sustainable use of the oceans, accordingly with the needs of coastal communities. Under his orientation Colombia declared for the first time a National Policy for the Management of the Coastal, Marine and Insular Areas (PNAOCI, 2000) leading to the development of different actions in the protection of natural areas, the identification of coastal climate change vulnerabilities, marine spatial planning, among others for Colombia. On others, he has been part of Colombian delegations in environmental and marine international fora and negotiations, member of the Executive Planning Group of UN Decade of the Oceans (2018) and recently appointed as POGO Chair, among other distinctions.