Tuesday 1 July: Auditing Our Blue Planet

Dr. Robin Degron, Director of Plan Bleu, United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan

Habilitated to supervise PhD in Geography and Senior auditor of the French Supreme Audit Institution (Cour des comptes), Robin Degron is currently director of Plan Bleu (UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan) and specialist in Sustainable development, landscape planning and green finance. He wrote several books and many papers on these items.

Xavier Leflaive, Senior Advisor, OECD

Xavier Leflaive is a senior advisor for water at the OECD Environment Directorate. The former lead of the water team for 12 years, he coordinated the Recommendation of the OECD Council on water, which captures OECD guidance on the management of water quantity and quality, water-related risks, water governance and finance. More recently, he supported the Global Commissison on the Economics of Water.

Leflaive sits on the Board of Eau de Paris, the water supplier for the city of Paris, and on the Internatinal Advisory Board of Deltares, a Dutch knowledge institute that works on water and subsurface.

Leflaive studied business administration and social sciences in France, Canada and the UK. He holds a Ph.D. in social and poitical sciences from the University of Cambridge (UK).

President Tarja Halonen

Tarja Halonen served as the 11th President of the Republic of Finland from 2000 to 2012. She was Finland’s first female president. Her political career in Finland spans over four decades. She was elected to Parliament in 1979. She held the office of Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Minister of Justice, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. During her Presidency, she served as co-chair of the United Nations Millennium Summit and co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

During her career, President Halonen has paid close attention to issues of human rights, democracy, civil society, gender equality and sustainable development. Among other duties, president Halonen is currently a member of UN’s Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation and UNCCD Land Ambassador. 

Halonen is well known for her long and extensive experience in the civil society and her interest in human rights issues, especially regarding women’s rights, democracy and sustainable development. She continues to be active in the field of social rights and on the UN Agenda 2030. Among other duties, President Halonen is currently a member of UN’s Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation and UNCCD Land Ambassador.  

Animesh Kumar, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Animesh Kumar is the Head of UNDRR Office in Bonn and leads UNDRR’s global portfolio on climate action and comprehensive risk management, disaster data, and monitoring of the Sendai Framework, related SDGs and Early Warnings for All.

Before joining this position in 2021, Animesh served as the Deputy Head of the UNDRR Regional Offices in Africa and in Asia-Pacific during 2013-2021. In these capacities, he led regional policy and coordination on disaster risk reduction, including inter-governmental and stakeholder mechanisms, and joint UN efforts on building resilience.

In his previous positions, Animesh worked in other UN entities in Africa and Asia, working on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and food security, including as the policy adviser to the Government of Ethiopia.

Animesh is a Geographer and holds an MPhil and PhD in climate change adaptation and sustainability. 

Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, New Zealand 

Simon Upton was sworn in as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for a five-year term on 16 October 2017 and as reappointed for a second term in 2022.

Mr Upton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Rhodes Scholar, with degrees in English literature, music and law from the University of Auckland, and an MLitt in political philosophy from Oxford University. He was sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in 1999. A Member of Parliament between 1981 and 2000, Mr Upton held a variety of ministerial portfolios including environment, research, biosecurity, health and state services between 1990 and 1999. 

After leaving Parliament, Mr Upton moved to Paris to chair the Round Table on Sustainable Development at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  In 2005, he returned to New Zealand to pursue a number of private sector roles while continuing to chair the Round Table. He returned to the OECD as Environment Director in 2010 and led the OECD’s contribution to the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. 

He returned to take up the role of Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in 2017. As Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Upton provides the New Zealand House of Representatives with independent commentary on environmental legislation, policies and agencies. He has delivered major reports on biogenic greenhouse gas emissions and forestry offsets, environmental information and expenditure, the fate of chemical contaminants in the environment and the environmental impact of tourism amongst others. He leads a multi-disciplinary team of analysts in Wellington. His office’s work programme and publications can be explored here.  

Thursday 3 July: INTOSAI WGEA Business Meeting

Dr Andrea Hinwood, United Nations Environment Programme

Dr Andrea Hinwood serves as the Chief Scientist of UNEP. She is an environmental scientist with expertise in environmental exposures and impacts on human health.  Dr. Hinwood (B.Sc., M.AppSc., PhD) earned a PhD in environmental epidemiology from the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to this role, Andrea worked on a range of local, regional, and international environmental issues, having served as a member of the TEAP and co-chair of the Technical Options Committee for Aerosols Sterilants and miscellaneous uses supporting the Montreal Protocol.  She served as the first Chief Environmental Scientist at the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in Victoria, Australia and was previously an Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University and held appointments as a member and Deputy Chair of the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. Dr Hinwood was a sessional member of the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia, and her career has included the provision of strategic advice to the governments on a wide variety of environmental matters