Rolando Navarro

Fellow

Rolando Navarro (he/him) is a Renewable Natural Resources engineer with a specialty in Forestry, from the Universidad Nacional Agraria de la Selva in Tingo María, Peru. He has a master’s degree in Forests and Forest Resource Management from the Universidad Nacional Agraria la Molina in Lima, Peru, and a certificate in Analysis, Management, and Social-Environmental Conflict Resolution from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Peru.

Navarro has extensive experience in the Peruvian Amazon promoting the legal trade of forest products. He has more than 15 years of experience working with the government, the private sector, and environmental organizations managing natural resources, public policies, and indigenous community participation, through the responsible management of forests, forest restoration projects, and legal compliance auditing.

Before joining CIEL, Navarro served as the Executive President of the Agency for the Supervision of Forest Resources and Wildlife (OSINFOR) in Peru from March 2012 to January 2016. He played a fundamental role in the leadership, independence, and impartiality of the institution and developed innovative strategies to identify areas of risk for the illegal timber trade.

For his audacity in challenging the network of illegal timber mafias, Rolando and his family have been the target of threats and retaliation. In January 2016, Rolando was dismissed from his position at OSINFOR and has since had to seek exile in the United States. Now, Rolando is continuing his work protecting Peru’s Amazonian forests from his new base in Washington, DC, as a fellow at CIEL.