In his early career, Castro de la Mata published widely on the ecology and energetics of long distance migration, with emphasis on migratory shorebirds. Some seminal papers include "Assimilation Efficiency of Sanderlings Feeding on Horseshoe Crab Eggs" and "Ecology and Energetics of Sandlerlings Migrating to Four Latitudes". He is the founder of Ecosystem Services LLC, a company that generates carbon offsets through avoiding deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Previously, he was the Managing Director of Sustainable Forestry Management for the Americas, where he was responsible for seminal investments that generated the first carbon credits from native plantations and forest conservation. He has been the Head of Biodiversity at the Global Environment Facility, the largest source of funds to address global environmental challenges, and a Lead Environmental Specialist at the World Bank. He was also Director and Vice-President of WWF’s Latin American and Caribbean Program in Washington, and founder and CEO of Wetlands for the Americas. In 2013, he was one of the two high-level independent international experts engaged by the United Nations to assess the social end ecological impacts of the Barro Blanco Dam in Panama, which found serious consultation deficiencies in indigenous communities. In December 2013 he was selected as a Member of the World Bank's Inspection Panel and in November 2014 became its eleventh chairman, a position he held until
Other work and recognition
Castro de la Mata has been involved in the founding of leading international conservation organizations, including Wetlands for the Americas, and American Bird Conservancy, where he served as a board member for six years. He has served as chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Development Issues in South-Central Peru, as well as president of various companies and a member of the Supervisory Council of Wetlands International. He has appeared in numerous publications in topics related to ecology, environment, mining, and development, and is a regular editorial contributor to El Comercio in Lima, Peru and Diario Altavoz. in 2014, he was awarded the Prize "Peruanos al Bicentenario" by Diario El Comercio in the Environmental Category for his essay "Pais de Leyenda".
The Global Water Crisis and Freshwater Ecosystem Conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Predicted Trends and Proposed Policy Responses. 1997. World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, 80 Pp.
