M. Purificació CANALS

Purificació Canals has a BSc and a PhD in Biological Sciences from Barcelona University (1986 and 1996). She works as international consultant on marine and coastal conservation and is the Institutional Relations Director at Underwater Gardens International S.L.. She has been the President of MedPAN (Mediterranean Network of Marine Protected Areas Managers, 2009-2024) and from 2016-2019 she contributed to connect MPA networks across the Atlantic as the Coordinator of the EU Transatlantic MPA Network Project, enlarged to the Southeast Asia as Coordinator of the EU Ocean Governance Project, 2020-2024. As a continuity of those EU projects, she’s currently coordinating the creation of a permanent Global Network of MPA manager Networks, with the support of the Blue Nature Alliance. She has long track experience in UN Environmental Conventions such as the CBD (Biological Diversity) or the UNFCCC (Climate Change). She’s also member of the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of Catalonia (CADS) since 2014; the Scientific Council of Conservatoire du Littoral, since 2004; and the World Commission on Protected Areas of IUCN since 2007. Since 1996 she teaches Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of University Rovira i Virgili (URV, Tarragona).

Among other positions, she was Regional Councillor of IUCN (International Union for Nature Conservation) for West Europe (2000-2008); Vice-president of IUCN (2004-2008); President of the Preparatory Committee of the IV World Conservation Congress organized by IUCN in Barcelona (2006-2008); Professor of Aeronautical Medicine at URV (2001-2005); President of the League for the Defence of Natural Heritage (DEPANA) (1994-2010) and the Iberian Council for Defence of Nature (CIDN) (1998-2010). She has been awarded on several occasions, such in 2020 with the St. George’s Cross by the Government of Catalonia, or in 2022 with the Alfred Toepfer Medal by the EUROPARC Federation for her contribution to nature conservation.