Afternoon Session-HLPF “Thinking ahead: emerging issues that will matter in the future” | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Background

Background

What are the major new trends decision-makers should pay attention to and what is science telling us about them?

Biographies

H.E. Mr. Kazuyuki Nakane

Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan (on UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction)

H.E. Mr. Kazuyuki Nakane

Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan (on UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction)

Kazuyuki Nakane is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan and the Japanese House of Representatives. He has served as the Deputy Director of Youth Division of LDP and the Director of Committee on Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Ms Irene Khan

Director-General, International Development Law Organization, (IDLO), Bangladesh

Ms Irene Khan

Director-General, International Development Law Organization, (IDLO), Bangladesh

Ms. Khan is Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). The first woman to hold this office, she was elected by Member Parties on 17 November 2011 and took up her position formally on 1 January 2012 for a term of four years. She is an international thought leader on human rights, gender and social justice issues. Ms. Khan was Secretary General of Amnesty International from 2001 - 2009. Prior to that, she worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 21 years at headquarters and in various field operations. She was Visiting Professor at the State University of New York Law School (Buffalo) in 2011. Ms. Khan is a member of the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She sits on the boards of several international human rights and development organizations. Ms. Khan received the Sydney Peace Prize in 2006 for her work to end violence against women and girls. Her book, “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights” has been translated into seven languages.

Born in Bangladesh, Irene Khan studied law at the University of Manchester and Harvard Law School.

Mr.Abdul Hamid Zakri

Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and Member of the UN Secretary General's Scientific Advisory Board

Mr.Abdul Hamid Zakri

Science Adviser to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and Member of the UN Secretary General's Scientific Advisory Board

Abdul Hamid Zakri serves as the founding Chair at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as the Science Advisor to Malaysia’s Prime Minister, and as one of 26 members of the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Mr. Alfred Kammer

Deputy Director, International Monetary Fund

Mr. Alfred Kammer

Deputy Director, International Monetary Fund

Alfred Kammer is currently a deputy director in the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department. Previously, he was Director of the Office of Technical Assistance Management, overseeing all aspects of the IMF’s technical assistance operations, and fundraising and global partnerships for capacity building.

Ms. Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter

Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Ms. Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter

Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter is parliamentary state secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety since 2013. Until 2005, the graduate business economist was active in the areas of marketing, consulting and communication. She first became a member of the German Bundestag in 2005, where she headed the Sustainable Mobility working group in the SPD party executive from 2008 to 2009. Since 2014, she is the chairwoman of the board of trustees of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) as well as chairwoman of the supervisory board of the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS).

Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw

Deputy Executive Director of UNEP

Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw

Deputy Executive Director of UNEP

Following the decision of Rio +20 to strengthen and upgrade UNEP, Mr. Thiaw played a critical role in the implementation of UNEP’s mandate and its Medium Term Strategy and Programme of Work, as well as worked to catalyze UNEP’s political engagement with governments and intergovernmental processes. Mr. Thiaw’s role also includes advancing the on-going internal performance and reform agenda. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Executive Director Mr. Thiaw served as the Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI). As Director for DEPI, Mr. Thiaw was responsible for conceptualizing and managing UNEP's activities in two of its core thematic areas of focus - ecosystem management and services and conflicts and disasters. He also managed the adaptation component of UNEP's climate change sub-theme.

Ms. Risnawati Utami

CBM, Indonesia

Ms. Risnawati Utami

CBM, Indonesia

Risnawati Utami’s passionate advocacy for differently-able health care policies led her to work for an Indonesian NGO that promotes rights and access for medical services. In 2004, she won a fellowship through the Ford International Fellowships Program (IFP) to study health policy and management at Brandeis University in the U.S. She later established an NGO called Ohana, where she fights for children’s and differently-abled women’s rights, while advocating for better policies for human rights and public services at the House of representatives.