Authors

Danish economist and environmentalist. After gaining an MA degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London, with a specialization in development studies focusing on economics and development, Andersen started her career in the field of development cooperation in Sudan in 1982. In 1992, she was appointed the Global Environment Facility Coordinator for MENA at UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). Andersen joined the World Bank in 1999 and served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development from 2010 to 2011. Andersen was appointed Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in January 2015, and on February 21 2019, the General Assembly of the United Nations elected her as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

He has been the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development since 2021. Prior to that, he served as the Australian Minister for Finance, the Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate and as Federal Senator representing the State of Western Australia. From 1997 to 2003, he was the Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to various State and Federal Ministers in Australia and for the Premier of Western Australia.

Swedish lawyer. She studied at the University of Stockholm, receiving a bachelor’s degree in international relations in 2008. In 2009, she participated in an internship at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and was involved in the work of the Conference on Disarmament and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Since 1 July 2014, she has taken the post of executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), for which she accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

English Catholic archbishop. Ordained in 1977, he obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. A member of the Holy See’s diplomatic service, he was Special Envoy as Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (2000-2004), and then appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi (2004-2009), to Guatemala (2009-2012), and to Australia (2012-2014). He was ordained Titular Archbishop of Hodelm in 2004 and has been the Secretary for Relations with States within the Holy See’s Secretariat of State since 2014.

Secretary General of the Arab League since 2016. From 1992 to 1996, he served as Egypt’s Ambassador to Italy, Macedonia and San Marino. From 1999 to 2004, he served as Permanent Representative of Egypt at UN headquarters in New York, and from 2004 to 2011 he was appointed Egypt’s Minister of Foreign. He was also Egypt’s Representative to FAO in Rome in 2017.

Argentine diplomat. In 1983 he graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina with a BA in Political Sciences. In 1997, he graduated from the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Studies with a MA and PhD on International Relations, History and International Politics. From 2002 to 2007 he was Chief of Staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency and between 2010 and 2013 he served as Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He was formerly the Argentine Ambassador to Austria in Vienna (July 2013-November 2019) and has served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency since December 3, 2019.

American public health and international development executive. In 1975, she received a M.S. in public administration from the University of Northern Colorado. In the 1980s she held senior management positions in the private industrial sector. From 2001 to 2005, Fore served as the 37th Director of the United States Mint in the U.S. Department of Treasury, later becoming the first woman to serve as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from May 2007 to January 2009. From January 2018 until January 2022, Fore was the executive director of UNICEF. As part of this position, she worked in collaboration with the World Health Organization, among others, to facilitate vaccination to combat the COVID-19 global pandemic.

French lawyer and politician. After graduating in law from Paris West University Nanterre La Défense, she obtained a master’s degree from the Institut d’études politiques in Aix-en-Provence. She began her legal profession working for the Baker & McKenzie law firm, becoming its president in 1999. Back in Paris, she devoted herself to politics: minister delegate for Industry and Foreign Trade (under J. Chirac, 2005-7), Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (briefly in 2007) and Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Employment during the presidency of N. Sarkozy. On 16 November 2009, the Financial Times ranked her the best finance minister in the Eurozone, as she was credited for having promoted a fiscal policy capable of safeguarding France from the global economic crisis. On 5 July 2011, Lagarde replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, the first woman to hold this position. She was re-elected by consensus for a second five-year term, starting 5 July 2016. On 2 July 2019, Lagarde was nominated by the European Council as President of the European Central Bank (ECB); that same month she submitted her resignation as managing director, starting her job at the ECB on 1 November 2019. She is considered among the 100 most powerful women in the world.

In 2017, she assumed her position as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. She has many years of experience within and outside the United Nations system. Since 2014, she has served as Assistant Administrator of the Crisis Response Unit at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Between 2012 and 2014, she was Director of the Asia and the Middle East Division of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. From 2005 to 2008, she was Professor of International Relations at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, where she also served as a member of the Foreign Exchange Council to Japan’s Foreign Minister.

Chinese biologist. He gained a bachelor’s degree from Hunan Agricultural University, a Master’s in plant breeding and genetics from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and a Doctorate in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from the University of Wageningen, Netherlands in 1996. From 2001 to May 2011, he was Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science. In 2015 he became Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2019 he was elected Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the first round, with 108 votes out of 191, taking over from J. Graziano da Silva.

Meteorologist and general Secretary of the World Meteorological Organization. Member of the WMO Executive Council since 2008 and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Council 2002–2005, 2007 to present. In 2015, he was appointed General Secretary by the World Meteorological Congress. He was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2019. He was General Director of the Finnish Meteorological Institute from 2002 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2015.

Ambassador of Hungary. He was Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO). Senior diplomat with extensive experience in the field of arms control and disarmament. He served as Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva and Vienna, as well as to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. From 1994 to 1996, he was Deputy State Secretary of Defence as well as chair and key negotiator for biological and chemical weapons global prohibition.

In 2018, the Member States of the International Organization for Migration of the United Nations elected him Director General. He has over 27 years of international and national political and academic experience. He served as European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs from 1999 to 2004. He served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Portugal from 1995 to 1997. Over the course of his career he has developed management and negotiations skills at the highest level, as well as in-depth knowledge of global and national migration contexts and related policy challenges. He served as Judge of the Portuguese Constitutional Court from 1989 to 1994. He was also Assistant Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law, International Human Rights Law, European Union Law on Justice and Home Affairs at the Lisbon Law School and Lisbon Nova University. Member of the Transatlantic Council on Migration based in Washington D.C. from 2007 to 2018.