Johana Deza

Johana has 12 years of experience in conservation and sustainable development. As Senior Program Officer in Conservation Areas, she provides technical support on area-based conservation and facilitates lesson-sharing across the network to achieve the post-2020 area-based conservation targets such as Target 3 (30x30).

Before joining WWF-US, Johana worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advising area-based conservation initiatives to increase landscape connectivity and resilience to climate change of people and nature. Prior to that, she worked for seven years at WWF-Peru leading its strategy of landscape planning, fostering coordination among Latin American countries, and advising the establishment of conservation areas while recognizing indigenous territories.

Johana has a Master’s in Sustainable Development with a specialization in ecology from KU Leuven in Belgium and a Bachelor’s in Biological Science from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru. Her master's thesis assessed the enabling conditions for co-management in protected areas in South Africa. Additionally, she studied specialization programs in Public Policy and Environmental Management.