Ms. Angela Cropper of Trinidad and Tobago appointed as Deputy Executive Director, UNEP

New York, 07 November 2007 - The Secretary-General announced yesterday the appointment of Ms. Angela Cropper of Trinidad and Tobago as Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for the United Nations Environment Programme.

Ms. Cropper is currently an independent member of the Senate of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago and President of The Cropper Foundation, a not-for-profit charitable organization committed to sustainable development. She has worked at the local, national, regional and international levels on the nexus between environment and sustainable development and has been an inspiration for activities in public policy, environmental education and policy making, and social justice within Trinidad and Tobago, and throughout the Caribbean Region.

Starting her career as an economist, Ms. Cropper has also held senior positions with the Caribbean Community and Common Market Secretariat (CARICOM) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) followed by positions as interim Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and as Senior Adviser on Environment and Development with the United Nations Development Programme.

Ms. Cropper brings to UNEP profound experience in environmental policy, analysis and negotiations combined with high-level engagement in intergovernmental environmental negotiations and processes as well as a strong sense of vision and strategy setting. She also brings strong leadership and management qualifications and experience.

Throughout her career, Ms. Cropper has advocated for the equitable use of natural resources and has actively participated in many high-level processes at the cutting edge of sustainable development. She played a key role in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and led two sub-global assessments on the Northern Range in Trinidad and the Caribbean Sea.

Ms. Cropper has received a number of environmental awards in recognition of her achievements and her visionary leadership and selfless public service which have catalyzed numerous activities for equity, peace and sustainable development at both international and local levels.

Ms. Cropper is currently serving on a number of international advisory boards, including the CARICOM Task Force on Functional Cooperation, the Council of the United Nations University, the European Union High-Level Panel on Sustainability, the Board of Trustees of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the External Advisory Group to the World Bank on the Implementation of its forest strategy. Ms. Cropper has also been a Visiting Distinguished Fellow with the Woods Hole Research Center and a Visiting Distinguished Fellow and McClusky Fellow with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Ms. Cropper has a degree in development economics and international law from Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados, respectively.