She was the Angolan minister for fisheries from 1992 to 1996, in the government of José Eduardo dos Santos,[1] then minister for fisheries and environment from 1996 to 2002. Jardim was member of the National Assembly from 2003 to 2008.[2]
From 2008 to 2017 she was appointed minister for the environment.[3] In 2015, she was Angola's climate envoy at COP 21, representing the Least Developed Countries in the negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement.[4]