María Fernanda Espinosa is the first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to be President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018-2019). She is a distinguished academic, diplomat, politician, poet, and linguist who has also served in high-level government positions, including Ecuador’s Minister of National Defense (2012-2014) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-2008 and 2017-2018). She has led regional and international negotiations on bilateral and multilateral issues for over a decade. Under her leadership, the Armed Forces underwent restructuring and modernization to adapt to the region’s geopolitical context and new risks and threats to national security, such as cybersecurity, drug trafficking, organized transnational crime, and natural disasters.
With over three decades of developing roles in academia, NGOs, international organizations, and the government, she has established herself as an expert in international relations, peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, gender equality, and the rights of indigenous peoples. She honed her skills in multilateral diplomacy and international political affairs, with key roles at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN), where she served as an advisor on biodiversity and climate change policy (1999-2005) and later as regional director (2005-2007). She represented Ecuador at the United Nations as the first female Ambassador in New York (2008-2009) and Geneva (2014-2017).
Currently, she is President of Cities Alliance and Executive Director of Global Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion. She is also a member of leading international organizations, including the International Crisis Group, Nizami Ganjavi International Center, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the UN Advisory Board on Human Security, and the Generation Equality Forum. She chairs the work of the Coalition for the Un We Need, Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery, Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and Global Commission on Climate Governance.
She has received many awards, including the “Eleanor Roosevelt Award” from the UN Association of the United States (2022), the Sir Brian Urquhart Award from the UN Association of the United Kingdom for her “Distinguished Service to the UN” (2021), the “5th Sun Award” for her “outstanding contribution to advance the agenda of the rights of Indigenous Peoples” (2021), and the Rehabilitation International Award for Outstanding Achievements in Innovation “for her innovative work advancing the rights of persons with disabilities globally” (2019). She was also declared one of the 100 most inspiring and influential women globally by the BBC (2019).
Throughout her career, she has published over 50 scholarly articles, op-eds, reports, and book chapters on issues ranging from peace and security, geopolitics, and multilateralism to trade and investment, sustainable development, human rights, and climate change.
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
French
German
Greek
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Spanish