Benoit Blarel is the Practice manager for the Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy Global Unit. In this capacity, he designs and implements global programs to address environmental sustainability challenges such as pollution, biodiversity, forest conservation, oceans, sustainable finance, and green growth. Blarel joined the World Bank Group in 1988 through the Young Professional Program. During his career at the World Bank, Blarel has focused on agricultural development and the environment in all regions of the world aside from East Asia and the Pacific. A native of France, Blarel studied economics in the United States, earning a doctorate degree from the University of Wisconsin with a specialization on natural resource economics.