Barbara Mueller
Barbara’s work bridges conservation and finance. She is trained in corporate finance and was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt, Germany.
Over the past few years Barbara has worked as a freelance consultant spezialising in conservation finance and private sector biodiversity engagement. Some of her recent assignments include:
• Financial and business planning advisory for the leading initiative to develop pre-compliance conservation banking in the U.S.
• Research on conflicts and their solutions arising in the process of protected area planning and regional (business) development
• Assessment of funding options for the protected area network in Carinthia, Austria
• Analysis of private sector engagement/sponsorships in Alpine protected areas
• Co-founded SOS Parks, an international volunteer network dedicated to the rescue of protected areas in danger: www.sosparks.org
Barbara has a Masters Degree in Social and Economic Sciences from the University of Vienna, Austria, and a Masters Degree in Protected Area Management from the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, where she now trains protected area managers on conservation finance and business-oriented financial planning. Barbara is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the Conservation Finance Alliance Innovative Finance Mechanisms Working Group.
Currently Barbara is an advisor with the Green Development Initiative (GDI) developing a market analysis of possible private-sector GDI financing.
