Tanya Santos

Ms. Tanya Santos holds a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Socio-Economics from Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) Turrialba, Costa Rica, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Watershed Science from Colorado State University. She presently works in the private sector. 

Tanya has worked most of her professional career as a public officer in the Forest Department of Belize. During her tenure in the Department she served as manager of various program areas in the Department, including Protected Areas, Sustainable Forest Management, Forest Revenue and Exploitation Control, National and International Partnerships and Acting Chief Forest Officer in 2005.

She has spearheaded several international level initiatives in Belize, most notably as National Coordinator of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), National Coordinator of the regional CCAD-GIZ REDD+ Project and Operational Focal Point of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought. She has also served as National Coordinator for the Regional Projects Finnfor (Forest Management) and Mesoterra (Sustainable Agriculture), a partnership between with CATIE and Governments of Finland and Norway. She also led the GEF-World Bank Key Biodiversity Areas Project in Belize in 2015.

Tanya is committed to being a change agent in way Belize is being governed. She believes that Belizeans need to become more involved and be a part of the change they want to see, instead of sitting as spectators on the sidelines.

Tanya is married and is the proud mother of a young daughter.