Sandra Roxana Aparcana Robles

Sandra Aparcana is Senior Advisor at UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre since September 2014. Her work focuses on climate mitigation actions, transparency and MRV in the waste management sector.

Among her diverse tasks, she is responsible for the management and technical support of low carbon development projects, with focus on the implementation of sustainable waste management strategies, and the development of tailored MRV and transparency policies and frameworks as a part of NDCs and low carbon development strategies supporting developing countries to meet their Paris Agreement obligations related to climate change mitigation and transparency. In this sense, she is engaged in the country support activities of UNEP DTU towards the implementation of Enhanced Transparency Frameworks in Ecuador, Maldives (ICAT) and Panama (CBIT).

Significant accomplishments in her technical role at UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre include being the project manager and main technical consultant for Waste to Energy initiatives under humanitarian crisis context in Jordan, Turkey and Tokelau (Pacific Islands),  main consultant responsible for project management and technical advisory in circular economy, waste valorization and energy recovery initiatives in Morocco, Indonesia, and Mozambique, included in Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) and private sector engagement strategies in the sector.

Further, she has had the opportunity to analyse in depth the particularities of the waste management and the informal recycling sector in developing countries, resulting in an award for the best paper in waste management issues in developing countries, in the 16th International Waste Management Symposium in Sardinia, Italy (2017).

Through her educational and professional background, she has accumulated vital experience and knowledge in a wide-range of areas relating to GHG mitigation strategies for small and medium enterprises in developing countries (focus on Latin America) such as cleaner production, recycling and energy recovery from waste, stakeholder consultation process, and capacity building, among others. Further professional expertise encompasses environmental and social impact assessment (life cycle assessment), carbon footprints, and corporate social responsibility.

Sandra holds a PhD in Waste management with focus on social sustainability assessment (Social LCA) from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria. She graduated as a food scientist in Peru and completed the Master’s programme in International Material Flow Management – Circular Economy in Germany.