Juan is an SEI Associate, based in Costa Rica, affiliated with the U.S. Centre.

His research focus is on international environmental governance, particularly on adaptation to climate change and the evolution of policy mechanisms and institutions to support sectors vulnerable to global environmental change.

Juan has completed field research on implementation of adaptation and disaster risk reduction activities, particularly on bottom-up adaptation to climate impacts and disaster risk reduction, working in partnership with host institutions in Fiji, Vietnam, and Namibia. 

He is currently focused on the creation of international policy instruments to incentivize adaptation and development synergies, including links with mitigation. He is also working on the evolution of adaptation institutions and governance in Latin America.

Juan was previously affiliated with SEI's Stockholm Centre, as a research associate. Prior to joining SEI, he worked for a non-governmental organization providing policy analysis in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Previously, he worked as research fellow for the Watson Foundation and served as programme advisor to the UN Environment Programme. Recently, he has served as advisor on adaptation to climate change, impact of response measures, and agriculture in sectorial cooperation in official delegations in the UNFCCC process, including in the role of negotiator.

Education
Juan completed an MSc in Ecosystems and Governance from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, (Stockholm, Sweden), where he focused his thesis work on international mechanisms to promote adaptation to climate change.

He also completed an BA in Human Ecology with emphasis on Environmental Policy from College of the Atlantic (Maine, USA.) under a Davis UWC Fellowship.