​Mr. Alvaro Umaña-Quesada, a Costa Rican national, was appointed to the Inspection Panel in 1994 and served to 1998.

Prior to that, Mr. Umaña-Quesada served as Costa Rica's first Minister of Natural Resources from 1986-1990. He is Professor and Director of the Natural Resources Management Program at INCAE, a Latin American Graduate School of Management. Mr. Umaña-Quesada is a member of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Resources Institute. He has published several books and many technical articles on energy, economics of natural resources and environment. In addition, he is a private entrepreneur in the ecotourism and conservation areas and is involved in sustainable wildlife reproduction and export.

Mr. Umaña-Quesada holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s in Economics from Stanford University. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Pollution Control and a Bachelor's Degree in Physics from Pennsylvania State University.