Katinka Weinberger is the Chief of Environment and Development Policy Section (EDPS) in UNESCAP. As Chief of EDPS, she is responsible for planning, coordinating, directing, and implementing ESCAP’s work program in the area of environment, especially on climate change, water and oceans and provides leadership in formulating and coordinating ESCAP’s response to the 2030 Agenda. Before joining EDPS she was the Head of the Centre for Alleviation of Poverty for Sustainable Agriculture (CAPSA-ESCAP), Senior Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Global Theme Leader at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center and the Centre for Development Research. A socioeconomist by training, her professional interests include the integration of the environmental dimension into social and economic policies, especially in the context of rural development and food systems. She has more than twenty years of experience in research for development, has been involved in empirical field research in collaboration with national and international partners in Asia and the Pacific and across Africa, and authored more than 80 publications.