Barbara Pia Oberč

Barbara leads TNC’s sustainable food systems policy work in Europe. Her work involves supporting the development and implementation of EU policies geared at the transition to sustainable food systems—helping to scale and finance regenerative food systems and support agricultural subsidy reform, both in Europe as well as beyond.

Prior to joining TNC, Barbara worked as a senior policy and project officer at IUCN’s EU Representative/European Regional Office in Brussels, covering EU policy related to the sustainable use of natural resources, with a focus on sustainable agriculture and the circular economy. She previously worked as a policy and research consultant at Brussels-based consultancy Ecorys, carrying out research projects commissioned by the EU institutions toward informing EU environmental policy. She initially moved to Brussels for a traineeship at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, where she worked on agri-environment-climate measures. While completing her studies in sustainable development at Uppsala University, she interned at the UNFCCC in Bonn, working on nationally appropriate mitigation measures (NAMAs).