Mariam Kenza Ali is a Global Climate Initiative Program Officer at the Packard Foundation. She oversees the Foundation’s bioenergy grantmaking strategy and its emerging focus on carbon dioxide removal. Mariam brings ten years of experience on protected areas, communities, land use planning, environmental assessment, renewable energy, and multilateral environmental agreements. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands where she managed a global program promoting community engagement in wetland management. She has also worked at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature where she led the first global assessment of the 230+ natural World Heritage Sites, and at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds where she coordinated environmental assessment advocacy in the UK. Mariam holds a Master of Science in Environmental Technology from Imperial College and bachelor’s degree in Biology and Anthropology from Smith College.