Melanie Gárate

Melanie Gárate, a Senior Associate at the Consensus Building Institute, is an experienced bilingual facilitator and mediator primarily focused on oceans & coasts, climate adaptation & mitigation, and environmental injustices. She designs and facilitates complex public participation and multi-stakeholder engagement processes to address socio-environmental conflicts in the U.S. and Latin America. Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change, social justice, racial justice, community organizing, and advocacy. Melanie has extensive experience facilitating government agencies, local organizations, and community groups. She is a trained mediator, in accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 233 § 23C.

Prior to CBI, Melanie worked at the Stone Living Lab & Boston Harbor Now, focusing on nature-based approaches to climate resilience. She has also been the Climate Resiliency Manager at the Mystic River Watershed Association, and she has worked at Mass Audubon and the New England Aquarium. Melanie holds an M.S. in Marine Ecology and Climate Change from the University of Rhode Island, where she obtained an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to study mangrove ecology and perform community outreach in Puerto Rico.