Internationalist from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (Colombia). 25 years of expertise in international environmental law, international negotiation on biodiversity, and science-policy interface, with several publications about policy and legislation on biodiversity. In Colombia she had the opportunity to work as a researcher in the Policy and Legislation Program of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute; Head of the Office of International Affairs of the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development; Executive Director of the Fundación NaturaCert; and Head of the Office of International Affairs, Politics and Cooperation of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute. Also, she had the opportunity to be professor at Universidad del Rosario and Universidad Javeriana.

To date, Ana Maria has more than two decades of experience in the framework of Multilateral Environmental, regional, and binational Agreements. During that period, she has been negotiator at the Convention on Biological Diversity and had the honor of representing Latin America and the Caribbean in the Bureau of the COP of the United Nations Convention against Desertification and Drought (UNCCD), the SPAW protocol of the Cartagena Convention and IPBES. She was responsible for the focal point of the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES in Colombia, also had the opportunity to be the supervisor of the Technical Support Unit for the Assessment of the Americas of IPBES and Colombian delegate at IPBES meetings until May 2019. Starting from that date, the Plenary of IPBES elected her as IPBES Chair. Now she lives in Montreal, Canada.