Piera Tortora is the Coordinator of OECD’s Sustainable Ocean for All Initiative, aimed at supporting a transition to a global sustainable ocean economy that also the poorest and most vulnerable countries can benefit from. Piera has worked at the OECD since 2011 where, prior to leading the Sustainable Ocean for All Initiative, she led on Financing for Sustainable Development work on Small Island Developing States, Multilateral Development Finance and Transition Finance. Piera was the lead author of a number of OECD flagship publications and reports, including Sustainable Ocean for All: Harnessing the Benefits of Sustainable Ocean Economies for Developing Countires (2020), Multilateral Development Finance report 2018 : Towards a New Pact for Multilateralism (2018); Making Development Co-operation Work for Small Island Developing States (OECD, 2018); Climate and Disaster Resilience Financing in Small Island Developing States (OECD-WB, 2016), and OECD DAC 2015 Multilateral Aid Report: Better Partnerships for a post-2015 World.

Prior to joining the OECD, Piera conducted and managed economic analyses on policy issues relating to economic development in low and middle income countries. In 2008-2010, she worked at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN-FAO) providing policy advice to the Governments of Togo, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Syria on food security and poverty reduction policies. Previously, she worked as an independent consultant on the economic strategy for the North Kordofan State in Sudan (2007) and for the Italian natural resources management agency and the Italian water resources management organisations, mainly conducting ex ante policy impact analyses. In 2006, Piera served at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, where she conducted studies on migrations and violence against women. Piera has a passion for teaching: she lectured at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, the Master in “Human Rights and Conflict Management” of the University Sant’Anna in Pisa and at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.

Piera holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.