Karin Krchnak © The Nature Conservancy The Global Freshwater Team Brian Richter, Co-leader Nicole Silk, Co-leader Karin Krchnak, Director of International Water Policy Eloise Kendy, Director, Environmental Flows Program David Harrison, Senior Advisor    Andrew Warner, Senior Advisor for Water Management Robert Wigington, Western Water Policy Counsel Tom FitzHugh, Water Management Analyst Jeff Opperman, Technical Advisor for Water Management Diédre Paterno Pai, Outreach Manager Sharon Davis, Program Coordinator

Karin M. Krchnak
Senior Advisor of International Water Policy
Global Freshwater Team & External Affairs

As a Senior Advisor in the External Affairs Department of TNC, Karin advises on the development of policy strategies with national governments, multilateral institutions, river basin organizations and other partners. Her areas of focus include river basin conservation, payment for environmental services in the water sector, water and energy infrastructure development (hydropower), and watershed protection.

As an environmental lawyer, Karin has worked to improve policies and procedures related to environmental management and resource conservation worldwide. Before joining TNC, as the World Resource Institute’s Director of the Access Initiative & the Partnership for Principle 10, Karin managed two global secretariats aimed at improving information disclosure, transparency and accountability in environmental decision-making. Prior to WRI, Karin has worked as the Population & Environment Program Manager in the National Wildlife Federation’s International Programs, as well as Director for the Western Newly Independent States and Director of the Environmental Law Program for the American Bar Association Central and Eastern European Law Initiative. In addition, she has worked as an environmental attorney for Science Applications International Corporation and the Environmental Law Institute, and as an editor for the East Asian Legal Studies Program at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Karin currently serves on the Steering Committees of the Global Water Partnership and the Gender and Water Alliance and she is Co-Chair of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development’s Freshwater Caucus. 

Karin holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland (Baltimore) and an undergraduate degree in political science from Duke University (Durham, North Carolina).