DECEMBER
NEW EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF CMS SECRETARIAT
APPOINTED
UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner has appointed Elizabeth Maruma
Mrema as the new Executive Secretary of the Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Secretariat,
based in Bonn, Germany, with effect from 1 December 2009. The
announcement was made on 2 December 2009, at the 36th Meeting of the CMS
Standing Committee.
More information.
OCTOBER
UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE ELECTS NEW
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
During the 35th UNESCO General Conference, which is meeting from 6-23
October 2009, Irina Bokova (Bulgaria) was elected as the first woman
Director-General of UNESCO. She takes over as Director-General from
Koïchiro Matsuura (Japan).
More information.
UNWTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY ELECTS NEW
SECRETARY-GENERAL
The 18th session of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General
Assembly, which convened in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 5-8 October 2009,
elected Taleb Rifai (Jordan) as its new Secretary-General.
More information.
SEPTEMBER
UNEP APPOINTS CHIEF SCIENTIST
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has appointed
environmental modeling and systems expert Joseph Alcamo as its first
Chief Scientist. The appointment comes in response to a decision by the
Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum.
More information.
WRI TAPS MORGAN AS
DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE AND ENERGY PROGRAMME
The World Resources Institute (WRI) has named Jennifer L. Morgan as
director of its Climate and Energy Program.
For the past
three years, Morgan was director of the Climate Change Program at E3G
(Third Generation Environmentalism), a London-based think-tank. Prior to
that position, she led the Global Climate Change Program at WWF.
More information.
UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education has announced a change in
leadership. The new Rector, Professor András Szöllösi-Nagy, began his
appointment on 5 September 2009.
More information.
JULY
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY LEAVES CMS
SECRETARIAT
Robert Hepworth,
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), left
the CMS Secretariat on 27 July 2009. In addition, Lahcen El-Kabiri has
recently left the position of Deputy Executive Secretary of CMS to take
up new functions as head of the new CMS-managed office to oversee the
implementation of the Agreements on birds of prey and dugongs in Abu
Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
CMS press release.
YUMKELLA RECOMMENDED FOR SECOND TERM AS UNIDO’s DIRECTOR-GENERAL
Kandeh K. Yumkella (Sierra Leone) has been recommended for a second term
in office as the Director-General of the UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO). The recommendation was made on 23 June 2009,
during the thirty-sixth session of UNIDO’s Industrial Development Board,
which comprises 53 countries out of the 173 Member States.
More information.
SUPACHAI PANITCHPAKDI
TO HEAD UNCTAD FOR SECOND TERM
The UN General Assembly has unanimously confirmed Supachai Panitchpakdi
(Thailand) for a second four-year term as Secretary-General of the UN
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The action followed a
proposal by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (document A/63/891) to
appoint Supachai to a term from 1 September 2009-31 August 2013. More
information.
JUNE
NEW UNDOALOS DIRECTOR
APPOINTED
The UN Secretary-General has approved the appointment, effective 8 June
2009, of Serguei Tarassenko to the post of Director, of the UN Division
for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS).
More information.
UNESCO NAMES
SPOKESPERSON FOR THE OCEANS
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has
named the French seafarer, Maud Fontenoy, as its Spokesperson for the
Oceans.
She is
tasked with raising awareness of the need to protect the ocean
environment against major threats such as climate change, pollution and
unchecked urban development of the world�s coastal areas.
More information.
NEW SECRETARY OF UN-WATER DESIGNATED
Nikhil Chandavarkar, Chief of Communication and Outreach for the
Division of Sustainable Development of the UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (UNDESA), has recently become Secretary of UN-Water.
More information.
MAY
WTO MEMBERS REAPPOINT PASCAL LAMY FOR A SECOND TERM
On 30
April 2009, the World Trade Organization�s (WTO) General Council
reappointed Director-General Pascal for a second term of four years as
from 1 September 2009.
More information.
UNWTO COUNCIL
RECOMMENDS NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL
The
Executive Council of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
recommended Taleb Rifai (Jordan), for the position of Secretary-General,
for the Period 2010-2013, at its meeting in Bamako, Mali, on 7 May 2009.
The recommendation will be presented for ratification by the UNWTO
General Assembly, meeting in October 2009 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
UNWTO press release, 7 May 2009.
APRIL
UNWTO
TO SELECT NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Executive Council of the UNWTO will meet in Bamako, Mali, from 7-8
May 2009, to select one candidate to the post of Secretary-General.The
four candidates are Arab Hoballah (Lebanon), Khalid Malik (Pakistan), Oh
Jee-chul (Republic of Korea) and Taleb Rifai, Jordan. The recommendation
from the Executive Council will be ratified by the UNWTO General
Assembly, which is scheduled to convene in Astana, Kazakhstan, 2-9
October 2009.
UNWTO announcement.
UNDOALOS DIRECTOR ASSUMES NEW POST
The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS) has
announced that, effective 1 April 2009, V�clav Mikulka, UNDOALOS
Director, assumed the post of the Director of the Codification Division,
Office of Legal Affairs.
More information.
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
NOMINATES HELEN CLARK AS NEW UNDP ADMINISTRATOR
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has nominated Helen Clark (New Zealand) to
a four-year term as the new Administrator of the UN Development
Programme (UNDP). She replaces Kemal Derviş (Turkey). Clark has been a
Parliamentary member since 1981 and was the New Zealand Prime Minister
from 1999-2008.
More information.
FEBRUARY
CO-CHAIRS ON SYSTEM-WIDE COHERENCE APPOINTED
The Permanent Representatives
of Namibia, Kaire Munionganda Mbuende, and Spain, Juan Antonio
Y��ez-Barnuevo, have been appointed the Co-Chairs to facilitate the
process of consultations on System-wide Coherence, including to further
discussions on the resolution adopted on 15 September 2008 (62/277).
GA president�s letter.
Appointments, Departures
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