Maria is an Urban Development Specialist at the Asian Development Bank with over 10 years of

experience working for the private sector, government, and development institutions on infrastructure, urban planning, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. She has experience developing and implementing projects to mitigate urban flooding, improve water security and waste management, and enhance resilience to disaster risks and climate change. She holds a double masters’ degree in civil engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the ESTP Paris.

Maria is an engineer with over ten years' experience working with regional, rural, and vulnerable communities to access critical services such as water and sanitation. Her recent work in Nauru working in the water, sanitation, and solid waste management sectors particularly highlights the unique way in which these services can impact nutrition, agriculture, and climate-resilience. Maria has experiences in combining urban agriculture with water and sanitation solutions for the climate resilient and nutrition- smart recovery of Nauru.

Stefano Marta works for the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the OECD. Stefano is currently coordinating the Programme “A Territorial Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals,” which support cities and regions in implementing the SDGs in various OECD and partner countries. Stefano also coordinated the OECD project on “Reshaping Decentralised Development Cooperation.”