Martha Delgado Peralta joined the CIMMYT Board of Trustees in 2021.
Delgado is Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She is an environmentalist, renowned nationally and internationally, with over 29 years of professional experience in the public sector and NGOs.
From 1998 to 2003, she was President of the NGO Mexican Citizens Presence (Presencia Ciudadana Mexicana) and the Union of Environmental Groups (UniĂłn de Grupos Ambientalistas), where she was one of the strongest campaigners for the defense of the gray whale.
From 2003 to 2006, she was elected Independent Representative in the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City, where she created and chaired the Water Management Commission.
In 2006–2012, Delgado served as Minister of the Environment of Mexico City, where she led key projects such as the city’s Climate Action Plan, the rescue of the Magdalena river, and the program Greenify Your City.
At the international level, Delgado was deputy head of the World Water Council; president of the Network of Environmental Management Authorities in Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (2009–2010); and vicepresident of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (2009–2014). She is a member of the UNESCO Advisory Committee of Experts on Water and Human Settlements.
In 2019, she was President of the First Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly and became Sherpa for Mexico before the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a position she proudly holds to this day.
Capacity development 