Karen has years of experience providing strategic direction and technical assistance to the Philippine government in the fields of climate change adaptation and mitigation and natural resource management, especially in relation to research, planning, legislation, monitoring, and project evaluation. She also worked with the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority, the country’s main planning agency, and currently serves as the Secretariat Coordinator of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), an intergovernmental organization working on the sustainable development of the seas of East Asia and surrounding region.