Carles Ibañez Martí holds a PhD in Biology (Cum Laude) from the University of Barcelona (1993). Author of more than 200 publications in international scientific journals and book chapters, as well as numerous technical and informative publications. He has participated as a lecturer in more than 100 international conferences on ecology, ecosystem restoration and management, water resource management, climate change and sustainability. He has supervised 15 doctoral theses and numerous master’s theses. He has been an expert reviewer of the 5th IPCC Report and a member of the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of the Government of Catalonia.  He has been Visiting Research Fellow at the Socio-ecological Synthesis National Centre of United States (University of Maryland) and Associate Editor of the scientific journal Estuaries & Coasts.

He is the founder of the company Riet Vell, which produces organic rice in the Ebro Delta, and in his professional career he has combined scientific research with the defence and conservation of nature. He has been coordinator of SEO/BirdLife in the Ebro Delta and founding member of the Plataforma en Defensa del Ebro. He has coordinated several national and international projects on ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions, especially in wetland and coastal areas.