Before her current position she served in the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, as Minister and as Climate Change Director, where she directed the formulation and implementation of the National Decarbonization Plan with a view to eliminate Costa Rica’s reliance on fossil fuels by 2050. She also helped form The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, an intergovernmental group, co-chaired by Costa Rica, France, and the UK as ocean co-chairs on oceans, established to support the target of protecting at least 30% of marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Prior to this, Ms. Mesa has worked as international consultant for more than 15 years with multilateral and bilateral agencies (IDB, World Bank, EU, GIZ, AECID) and Governments in Latin America and Spain in the design and implementation of sustainable development policies and projects related to climate change, land conservation, management of protected areas, land use and transport planning. She also served for 9 years as the Director of the Land Conservation Program of the Costa Rican NGO Centro de Derecho Ambiental y los Recursos Naturales (CEDARENA), where she worked towards encouraging changes in environmental policies and promoting comprehensive and participatory environmental management, with the aim of forging an equitable and inclusive society that enjoys a healthy and ecologically balanced environment.

Ms. Meza graduated from the University of Costa Rica and is a lawyer by training. She took specialization courses at the University of Utrecht and has a PhD in Local Development.