Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias of Brazil Executive Secretary

of Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, a national of Brazil, as Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the Assistant Secretary-General level.

Mr. Dias will succeed Ahmed Djoghlaf, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his continued commitment and contribution to the Convention on Biological Diversity in his capacity as Executive Secretary.

Mr. Dias brings to this position extensive experience in policymaking and in coordinating the implementation of biodiversity policies, programmes and projects at the national and international level.

Currently the National Secretary for Biodiversity and Forests at the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, Mr. Dias is directly responsible for overseeing several multi-institution programmes and the work of four institutions attached to the Ministry.  He has been deeply involved with the negotiations and implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity since its origin and participated, as a member of the Brazilian delegation, in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Mr. Dias was previously a Member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility, Vice-President of the International Union of Biological Sciences and Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network.

Mr. Dias holds a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences from the University of Brasilia and is trained as a scientist, with a Doctor of Philosophy in zoology from the University of Edinburgh.

Born in 1953, Mr. Dias is married and has one child.

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For information media • not an official record