Denmark’s Inger Andersen takes over as UNEP’s Executive Director

Denmark’s Inger Andersen recently took charge as the new Executive Director (ED) of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). She will hold the designation for period of 4-years.

About Inger Andersen

Inger is a Danish economist and environmentalist with over 30 years of experience in international development economics, environmental sustainability and policy-making. Now as ED of UNEP she brings to the role a passion for conservation and sustainable development.

Nomination: She was nominated for the ED post by United Nation’s Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres and approved by UN General Assembly (UNGA) in February 2019.

Succeeded: She took over the charge from Joyce Msuya of Tanzania, who served as acting head of UNEP since late 2018. Msuya will now continue as Deputy Executive Director.

Previous Appointments:

IUCN- She has served as Director General of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) between January 2015 and May 2019.

World Bank– Before joining IUCN, she held various leadership roles at World Bank (WB) such as- served as WB’s Vice President of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers Fund Council (IARCFC).

Even before joining World Bank, she worked at the UN for over 12 years.

About UN Environment Programme

It was founded by Maurice Strong (UNEP’s 1st director) and was established as a result of United Nations Conference on Human Environment (or the Stockholm Conference) on 5 June 1972.

It is headquartered in Nairobi (capital of Kenya) and also has 6 regional offices and various country offices.

Function: It is a UN agency that provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for environment and is also responsible for coordinating UN’s environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2019