César Ipenza is a lawyer with analytical research and implementation expertise in environmental law, community-based environmental protection, and extractive industries in Peru and the broader Central and South American region. He has over twenty years of practical experience with environmental law at the international, national, and community-based levels, and has frequently worked with indigenous groups and other traditionally excluded communities.

Mr. Ipenza also has deep familiarity and experience conducting participatory and analytical processes in the public sector and civil society in the area of biodiversity, natural resources, mining and hydrocarbons, lands, and indigenous peoples. As a skilled evidence-based researcher and program designer, he frequently performs analytical and data-synthesis exercises to better prepare and implement community-based environmental programs. He is a skilled capacity-builder, with the ability to work with diverse stakeholders, prepare and deliver training to technical groups on environmental law, and to prepare organizations with the knowledge necessary to implement socially responsible programs in various sectors to promote transparency in extractive industry practices. He is a frequent advisor to senior government officials on sustainable development, conservation in complex ecosystems, and artisanal/informal/illegal mining in Madre de Dios and beyond.

Mr. Ipenza also has deep analytical and program experience in issues related to law consultation of indigenous peoples, initiatives related to protected natural areas and climate change, and extractive industry best management practices. Mr. Ipenza is also an accomplished drafter of environmental policies, as well as analytical research publications on environmental issues. He has carried that practical and policy experience to regional environmental governance frameworks, such as having served as one of Peru’s negotiators from 2009 – 2011 for strategic planning on the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal and Nairobi, and continues that work today through work on the Peruvian concession of the Regional Agreement on Access, Participation, and Environmental Justice with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL). Mr. Ipenza holds a Master of Science in Conservation of Protected Natural Areas, and a Law Degree with a focus on Peruvian environmental law.