Rocío has worked for 20 years on issues related to the role of economic incentives, local resource users, and institutions for biodiversity conservation. She has conducted specific research on topics such as fishing, payments for environmental services, adaptive capacity of resource-dependent communities in marine protected areas, economic valuation of protected areas, co-management of common-pool resources, and the relationship between poverty and resource dependence. Rocio´s work has been published in several books and scientific journals including Ecology and Society, Plosone, Ambio, World Development, Environment and Development Economics, Ecological Economics, and Biodiversity Conservation. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental and Resource Economics from the Universidad de los Andes-University of Maryland, and a Master of Science in Agricultural, Environment and Development Economics from Ohio State University. Since 2011, Rocío has served as academic advisor for CSF’s fellowship program and as professor for CSF’s economic tools for conservation courses.