Ibrahim Thiaw is a Mauritianian public servant who has been serving as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) since 2019. [1]
Ibrahim Thiaw is a Mauritianian public servant who has been serving as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) since 2019. [1]
Born in 1957 in Tékane, Mauritania, Thiaw holds an advanced degree in forestry and forest product techniques. [2]
Thiaw worked in his country's Ministry of Rural Development for 10 years before joining the World Conservation Union (IUCN), where he served ten years holding different positions. [3]
Thiaw joined the United Nations in 2007 as Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI) at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). [4] From 2013 to 2018, he was Deputy Executive Director of UNEP at the level of Assistant Secretary-General, under the leadership of successive Executive Directors Achim Steiner and Erik Solheim. He was appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 2 August 2013. [5] In this capacity, he played a key role in shaping the organization's strategic vision, mid-term strategy and programme of work, and strengthened collaborations with Governments and other environmental governing bodies, including the United Nations Environmental Assembly. [6]
He also served the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as its interim head after Patricia Espinosa stepped down, and started his term on 17 July 2022. [7] He was succeeded in this position by Simon Stiell on 15 August that same year. [8]
Thiaw is married and has three children.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (UNCCD) is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. Its mandate is to provide leadership, deliver science and develop solutions on a wide range of issues, including climate change, the management of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and green economic development. The organization also develops international environmental agreements; publishes and promotes environmental science and helps national governments achieve environmental targets.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971.
Rio Convention relates to the following three conventions, which were agreed at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental fund that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), mercury, sustainable forest management, food security, and sustainable cities in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. It is the largest source of multilateral funding for biodiversity globally and distributes more than $1 billion a year on average to address inter-related environmental challenges.
The Great Green Wall or Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel is a project adopted by the African Union in 2007, initially conceived as a way to combat desertification in the Sahel region and hold back expansion of the Sahara desert, by planting a wall of trees stretching across the entire Sahel from Djibouti, Djibouti to Dakar, Senegal. The original dimensions of the "wall" were to be 15 km wide and 7,775 km long, but the program expanded to encompass nations in both northern and western Africa. The concept evolved into promoting water harvesting techniques, greenery protection and improving indigenous land use techniques, aimed at creating a mosaic of green and productive landscapes across North Africa. Later it adopted the view that desert boundaries change based on rainfall variations.
Luc-Marie Constant Gnacadja or simply Luc Gnacadja is a Beninese politician and architect. He was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification from 2007 to 2013.
Yvo de Boer is an advisor and consultant on international environmental policy. De Boer is the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a position he held from 2006 until 2010. After his UN tenure, de Boer was Global Chairman of Climate Change and Sustainability Services at KPMG. From 2014 to 2016 de Boer was Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a Seoul-based international environmental organization.
The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations observance celebrated each year on 17 June. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the presence of desertification and drought, highlighting methods of preventing desertification and recovering from drought. Each year's global celebration has a unique, novel emphasis that had not been developed previously.
Nick Nuttall is a freelance communications consultant and former Director of Communications and Outreach and Spokesperson for the UN Environment headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change headquartered in Bonn, Germany.
Monique Barbut, born in 1956 in Morocco, is a French public servant who served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from 2013 until 2019. She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 16 September 2013.
The Environmental Protection Agency, is an agency of Ministry, established by EPA Act 490 (1994). The agency is dedicated to improving, conserving and promoting the country's environment and striving for environmentally sustainable development with sound, efficient resource management, taking into account social and equity issues. It oversees the implementation of the National Environment Policy. EPA Ghana's mission is to manage, protect and enhance the country's environment and seek common solutions to global environmental problems. Its mission is to be achieved through an integrated environmental planning and management system with broad public participation, efficient implementation of appropriate programs and technical services, advice on environmental problems and effective, consistent enforcement of environmental law and regulations. EPA Ghana is a regulatory body and a catalyst for change to sound environmental stewardship.
Muralee Thummarukudy is the Director of the Coordination Office of UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Prior to UNCCD Muralee was the Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction in the UN Environment Programme. An internationally renowned expert in disaster response, Muralee has been involved in post-disaster response and follow-up of almost all major disasters of the twenty-first century, including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Cyclone Nargis, Sichuan Earthquake, Haiti Earthquake (2010), Tohoku tsunami (2011) and floods in Thailand (2011). He has completed assignments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Liberia, Sudan and Rwanda dealing with the environmental impacts of conflicts. Also deployed to China, Japan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Haiti, and Thailand to deal with Disasters. He is a native of Vengola in Ernakulam district of the Kerala State in India.
Elion Group founded in 1988, is a Chinese company in afforestation and reclaiming desert and drylands, and is headquartered in the Kubuqi Desert.
Janos Pasztor is a Hungarian diplomat. His current role is Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative. He was Assistant Secretary-General in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York City and Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Change between January 2015 and December 2016. Previously he has held positions at the World Wide Fund for Nature International where he was Policy and Science Director and acting Director for Conservation.
Professor Reuben James Olembo (1937–2005) was a prominent Kenyan academic, scientist and environmentalist. He was a deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which he played a pivotal role in helping found, and United Nations Assistant Secretary General from 1994 to 1998. He became the Acting Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), after his retirement from UNEP.
Joyce Msuya is a Tanzanian microbiologist and environmental scientist who has been serving as Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs since 2021. From 2018 to 2021, she served as the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema is a Tanzanian biodiversity leader and lawyer, living in Montreal, Canada, who has been serving as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 2023, under the leadership of Executive Director Inger Andersen.
Simon Emmanuel Kervin Stiell is a Grenadian politician, serving as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change since August 2022. He indirectly succeeded Patricia Espinosa as the head of the UNFCCC, though Ibrahim Thiaw briefly served on an interim basis. Stiell previously served as Grenada's environment, education, and human resources minister.