DECEMBER
FAO Appoints New
Deputy Director-General
The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the UN (FAO) has announced the appointment of Ann
Tutwiler as the new Deputy Director-General for Knowledge. Tutwiler was
previously the Coordinator for Global Food Security at the US Department
of Agriculture and will be first female to hold the Deputy
Director-General of Knowledge position. [FAO
press release]
OCTOBER
Herman Scheer,
father of IRENA, Passed Away
Hermann Scheer, who had been
a member of the German parliament since 1980, passed away on 14 October
2010. He was also President of the European Association for Renewable
Energy (Eurosolar) and General Chairman of the World Council for
Renewable Energy, and was referred to as the father of the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). [IRENA
press release]
Adnan Amin Selected to Perform Functions of IRENA Interim
Director-General
The fourth session of the Preparatory Commission of the International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which took place from 24-25 October
2010, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, decided that Adnan Amin will
perform the functions of Interim Director-General of IRENA until the
first assembly in 2011. Amin, a Kenyan citizen, was selected in August
2010 as Deputy Interim Director-General of IRENA. Adnan Amin served as
the Director of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB).
He will replace Hélène Pelosse, who served in this position since June
2009. [IRENA
press release]
UNCCD Executive Secretary Re-Appointed to Second Term
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has re-appointed Luc Gnacadja (Benin) as
the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Announced on 11 October 2010, Gnacadja's
second three-year term took effect from 1 October 2010. [UNCCD
press release]
Former UNHABITAT
Executive Director Elected to Chair Steering Committee of WSSCC
On 15 October 2010, the
Steering Committee of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative
Council (WSSCC) elected Anna Tibaijuka, Former Executive Director of
UN-HABITAT, as its new Chair. Prof. Tibaijuka will succeed Roberto
Lenton when his second and final term of office comes to an end in March
2011. [More]
SEPTEMBER
Former Chilean President to Head New UN Women’s
Agency
On 14 September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated
former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet to head United Nations Women
(UN Women), a newly created entity to oversee all of the UN programmes
aimed at promoting women’s rights and full participation in global
affairs, including the
UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement
of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and
the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement
of Women (UN-INSTRAW).
[More
information]
World Bank Appoints Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Leader
The World Bank has announced the appointment of Daniel M. Kammen as the
organization’s Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and
Energy Efficiency, a new position created to provide strategic
leadership on this topic within the Bank. His appointment will be
effective on 4 October 2010. [World
Bank press release]
JULY
Christiana Figueres
Takes Up UNFCCC Post
Christiana Figueres commenced her new
duties on 8 July 2010, becoming the fourth UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
She was appointed as the new UNFCCC Executive Secretary by UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 17 May 2010. The appointment was
endorsed by the Bureau of the Convention. [UNFCCC
announcement]
UNCTAD
Secretary-General Joins High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change
Financing
Supachai Panitchpakdi,
Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
has accepted the UN Secretary-General's invitation to join his
High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. [UNCTAD
press release]
MAY
NEW UNFCCC EXECUTIVE SECRETARY APPOINTED
UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Christiana Figueres, a Costa
Rican diplomat, as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, to replace Yvo de
Boer on 1 July 2010. Figueres has been a member of the Costa Rican
negotiating team since 1995. She represented Latin America and the
Caribbean on the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism in
2007, and was then elected Vice President of the Conference of the
Parties for the 2008-2009 period.
She has served as
Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Planning in
Costa Rica, and as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Agriculture. She
was also the Director of Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA) and is
founder of the Center for Sustainable Development of the Americas (CSDA).
More information.
COMMITTEE ON SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT HEAD
NAMED
Daniele Giovannucci has been
tapped to be the acting Executive Director of the Committee on
Sustainability Assessment (COSA). COSA is a global consortium of
institutions – led by the Sustainable Commodity Initiative of the
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the UN
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It promotes effective
sustainability via innovative measurement of impacts at the
environmental, social, and economic levels. Giovannucci, a former food
company executive and Senior Consultant to the World Bank Group, is one
of the co-founders of COSA.
More information.
RAMSAR SECRETARY GENERAL’S TERM RENEWED
Among the outcomes of the
41st meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee, which took place from
26 April-1 May 2010, in
Kobuleti, Georgia, was the decision to renew Secretary
General Anada Tiéga’s tenure for another term.
Standing Committee report.
APRIL
UNEP FINANCE INITIATIVE APPOINTS NEW CO-CHAIRS
The UN
Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has appointed two
new co-chairs: Barbara Krumsiek of the Calvert Group, and Richard
Burrett of Earth Capital Partners. The co-chairs are expected to lead
UNEP FI over the next two years in the run up to Rio+20 in 2012.
UNEP Finance Initiative press release, 28 April 2010.
UNEP
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RE-ELECTED
On 22 April 2010, the UN
General Assembly re-elected Achim Steiner as Executive Director of the
UN Environment Programme (UNEP) for a further four years, beginning 15
June 2010.
More information.
MARCH
JOHN
SCANLON APPOINTED AS NEW CITES SECRETARY-GENERAL
John Scanlon, an Australian
national and top advisor at UNEP, has been named the new
Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Scanlon succeeds Willem
Wijnstekers, who has been Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat
since 1999 and will retire on 1 May 2010.
CITES press release.
COORDINATOR OF
ABIDJAN CONVENTION NAMED
Abou Bamba is
leaving his post as Senior Advisor for the Africa Region for the Ramsar
Convention, and is taking the position as Coordinator of the UNEP
Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the
Marine and Coastal Environment of the West, Central and Southern African
Region (Abidjan Convention). The position is under the UNEP
Environmental Policy Division (DEPI).
More information.
FEBRUARY
NEW UN-WATER CHAIR
NAMED
Zafar Adeel will succeed
Pasquale Steduto as UN-Water Chair. Adeel is Director of the Institute
for Water, Environment and Health at the United Nations University in
Hamilton, Canada.
More information.
FORMER UNFCCC COP
15 PRESIDENT HEDEGAARD BECOMES FIRST-TIME EU COMMISSIONER ON CLIMATE
ACTION
The European Parliament has approved the
new European Commission, with the vote taking the form of a single
ballot on the whole College of Commissioners, consisting of one
Commissioner from each of the 27 EU Member States, on 9 February 2010,
in Strasbourg, France. Following approval by the European Council,
Connie Hedegaard (Denmark), former President of the 15th session of the
Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UNFCCC, has been appointed as
the first Commissioner for Climate Action, and Janez Potočnik (Slovenia)
Commissioner on environment. The new Commission will stay in office
until 31 October 2014.
EU press release.
NEW UNFCCC COP AND
COP/MOP PRESIDENT ANNOUNCED
The UNFCCC Secretariat has
published an information note (YdB/DBO/NAW/esp/Log 276-10) informing
parties that Lykke Friis, the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy,
has replaced Lars Løkke Rasmuseen, the Prime Minister of Denmark, as the
President of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and the Conference of
the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol
(COP/MOP) for the remainder of the mandate of Denmark’s presidency.
More information.
JANUARY
IFPRI NAMES SHENGGEN
FAN AS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL
On 15 December 2009, Shenggen
Fan took office as the new director general of the International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the international agricultural
research centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR). Fan, who joined IFPRI 15 years ago as a research
fellow, succeeded Joachim von Braun, who led IFRPI for seven years. He
has served as director of the International Center for Agricultural and
Rural Development at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and
is an Executive Committee member of the International Association of
Agricultural Economists.
IFPRI press release.
UNICEF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WILL NOT SEEK A SECOND
TERM
The United Nations Children�s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann
Veneman has announced that she will not seek a second five-year term.
More information.
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS UNDP ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR
The UN Secretary-General has appointed Rebeca Grynspan, former Minister
and Vice-President of Costa Rica, as Under-Secretary-General and
Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
With the appointment of Grynspan, women hold the top two managerial
positions in UNDP.
More information.
Appointments, Departures
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