UN secretary-general names senior NDMA official as special representative for disaster risk reduction
- In Reports
- 12:20 PM, Mar 28, 2024
- Myind Staff
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Kamal Kishore a senior official from India's National Disaster Management Authority as his special representative for disaster risk reduction.
During a press briefing, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the secretary-general, announced the appointment of Kamal Kishore as the assistant secretary-general and special representative for disaster risk reduction at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
In his current role at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Kishore holds the position of Secretary to the Government of India. He succeeds Mami Mizutori of Japan at UNDRR. During India's G20 presidency, Kishore chaired the G20 Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction.
Additionally, he played a key role in the development of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Climate Action Summit in 2019.
Dujarric highlighted that Kishore brings nearly three decades of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate action, and sustainable development at various levels. Before joining NDMA, he served for nearly 13 years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Geneva, New Delhi, and New York.
During his tenure, he led global advocacy efforts to integrate disaster resilience concerns into the Sustainable Development Goals and managed a team supporting UNDP-programme countries. Additionally, as a programme advisor, he played a pivotal role in developing disaster and climate risk management elements for the UNDP Strategic Plan (2014-17).
Before his tenure at UNDP, Kishore served as director of information and research at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Bangkok and as an architect at The Action Research Unit for Development in New Delhi.
His extensive field experience includes post-disaster reconstruction projects after major earthquakes in Uttarkashi and Latur in 1991 and 1993, respectively. With over 22 years of experience, Kishore has worked on disaster risk reduction and recovery issues at various levels, from local to global.
As UNDP's regional advisor for South and South-West Asia, Kishore provided support to over 10 countries on public policy and institutional development issues, along with advising them on risk reduction tools and methodologies.
Image source: PTI
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