Rita Maria el Zaghloul is the Director, High Ambition Coalition for Nature & People Secretariat. Rita has served as Coordinator and Costa Rica’s focal point for the High Ambition Coalition for Nature & People during which she oversaw the coalition growth from 5 to 116 members in 3 years with the support of the HAC co-chairs. The coalition was crucial to adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework and in particular led on the 30by30 Target.

Rita also served as Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations , acting as lead diplomat and negotiator for Peace and Security, sustainable development, climate change and nutrition issues.

At the United Nations , Rita led the process of the proclamation of the Decade of Family Farming, co-chaired the Special Committee of Peacekeeping Operations for 2 consecutive years and chaired the Committee on Information amongst others.

Rita holds a degree in International Relations from the National University of Costa Rica and a Masters degree in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London. A dual citizen from Costa Rica and Lebanon, she is fluent in Arabic, Spanish, French and English.