• Environment

Viviane Castro-Salinas attended the School of Journalism at University of Chile in Santiago. She worked in the private sector in Colombia and Chile for over ten years, while becoming increasingly interested and involved in human rights activism and advocacy and ultimately joining the Chilean Commission for Human Rights. Viviane later focused on environment & development issues, joining the Brussels-based EarthAction Network, a global organization campaigning for environmental, peace and justice issues, and supporting its launch at the UN Rio Summit in 1992. She set up and coordinated EarthAction’s Regional Office for Latin America & the Caribbean in Santiago, and later created EarthAction Santiago, a local organization focusing on environmental issues such as desertification and local sustainable water management, public education on recycling, and empowerment of rural women leaders in communities threatened by large investment projects, among others. Viviane represented EarthAction at multiple UN meetings related to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, including several COPs, while participating in an international network (RIOD-LAC) monitoring the implementation of the Convention by national governments. She also consulted for the Chilean National NGO Association “ACCION”, coordinating global and regional campaigns on their behalf, such as the Global Call against Poverty (GCAP) and the “Beyond 2015” campaign. A mother and grandmother, Viviane is currently an Executive Assistant to Dr. Geraldine Schwartz, Senior Psychologist and founder of the Vancouver Learning Centre.