Pauliina Upla

Pauliina is a Plan Adapt Fellow based in Rome, Italy.

She is an environmental specialist with 15 years of diverse experience. As an independent consultant, her recent work has focused on the conflict risks related to land and ecosystems degradation and climate change, as well as on private sector engagement in landscape-level resource governance.

Earlier, she worked with the United Nations for several years in Kenya, Liberia, and Switzerland across different topics, including transparent resource governance in conflict contexts, green economy, and the complex nexus of biodiversity conservation, commercial resource extraction and local livelihood development. At UNEP, she co-managed the Great Apes Survival Partnership and supported climate-sensitive conservation under the Vanishing Treasures Programme, among others. Prior to joining the UN, she managed environmental consulting projects in Finland, helping companies to improve their environmental and social performance through management systems, sustainability reporting, and legal compliance.

One of her major interests going forward is to bring more design thinking into development cooperation programming, including climate change adaptation processes, to leverage more impact and participation on the ground. At a personal level, she is pursuing a Permaculture Design Certificate to bring regenerative practices into her everyday life.

Pauliina holds two Master’s degrees, one in Environmental Economics from the University of Helsinki, and another one in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health from the University of Edinburgh.

For more info, see Pauliina’s LinkedIn page.