Secretary-General Appoints Yasmine Fouad of Egypt Executive Secretary of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, following consultation with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), announced today the appointment of Yasmine Fouad of Egypt as the next Executive Secretary of UNCCD. She will succeed Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful for his dedicated service and outstanding commitment to the Organization.
Serving as Minister for Environment of Egypt since 2018, Ms. Fouad is an expert in environmental diplomacy with over 25 years of experience in environmental governance, global environmental themes and international climate diplomacy. She has a proven track record in designing and implementing institutional and systemic reforms for sustainable development.
On the global stage, Ms. Fouad has played a pivotal role in multilateral environmental processes, serving as the President of the fourteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP14) (2018-2021) and as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP27 Envoy (2021-2022). She co-led the process for reaching consensus to draft the Global Biodiversity Framework 2030 and played a key role in advancing global initiatives on adaptation, food security, agriculture and nature-based solutions at COP27. She also spearheaded the Presidential Global Initiative, which links the Rio Conventions launched at CBD-COP14. She co-facilitated climate finance at five climate COPs representing the interests of the Global South in collaboration with Northern partners.
Regionally, she has contributed to the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change and African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (2015-2017) as Assistant Minister for Environment for Sustainable Development, Regional and International Cooperation. She was instrumental in the technical preparation and coordination of the African Adaptation Initiative and the African Renewable Energy Initiative. She co-chaired the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Regional Flagship Programmes steering committee including Sustainable Land Management, Desertification, Biodiversity and Ecosystems-based Adaptation to Climate Change.
As a visiting scholar at Columbia University, Ms. Fouad contributed to the Earth Institute, helping design a Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Adaptation in Egypt. She holds a PhD in Euro-Mediterranean studies, Cairo University, and a MSc in environmental science, Ain Shams University. She is fluent in English and Arabic.