About Carla Bengoa Rojas

Carla is a Peruvian lawyer with an advanced degree in Environmental Law and an MSc in Environmental Policy. With over a decade of experience, her passion and expertise focus on matters intersecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Carla’s journey began in Peru and expanded internationally, where she has been actively involved in various research and policy initiatives. Her work spans agrobiodiversity conservation, using Intellectual Property to protect traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, integrating Indigenous and Local Knowledge into knowledge generation, and monitoring Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ contributions to global conservation. She has collaborated with Amazon and Andean communities in Peru, Indigenous women entrepreneurs worldwide, and Indigenous experts in international forums.

International law and policy have been central to Carla\’s work. She has engaged closely with the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. This has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of the frameworks and forums essential to advancing the rights and needs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.