My Global Advocacy

The 2018 Oceans Conference hosted by the government of Indonesia brought together hundreds of policymakers, young leaders, scientists, private sector groups, activists and civil society groups to develop concrete and actionable commitments to…

In Cairo I attended the 30th session of the Council for Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment, an important gathering of leaders from the region dedicated to environmental cooperation. At the opening of the high-level segment, I called on…

‘We cannot frighten people into caring about wildlife conservation. This was our message at the London Conference on Illegal Trade in Wildlife, last week. All too often conservation is carried out at the expense of poor people. All too often we are…

I joined United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres in New Delhi to honour the 2018 Champion of the Earth Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The high-level event in Delhi was well attended with almost all of the country’s top leadership in…

In a series of meetings in Paris, I met with counterparts in government and non-government sector, to discuss the forthcoming Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, the 2019 Secretary-General Climate Summit, the Global Pact…

I was in New York to attend a series of engagements hosted by UN Environment on the sidelines of the 73rd UN General Assembly. Several of these events represent critical elements of our programme of work including sustainable finance, pollution…

I had three important meetings in Washington DC. One was with Congressional staff from both the Republican and Democratic parties on conservation – hosted by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation, a long-standing partner of UN Environment…

Canada is providing dynamic leadership this year as G7 President, with a strong focus on healthy oceans, healthy seas, and resilient communities among other issues. I was honoured to be part of a panel discussion during the joint ministerial meeting…

I was honoured to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican to secure his support for several key UN Environment initiatives. Along with legendary hockey player and UN Environment Patron of the Polar region, Slava Fetisov, we updated Pope Francis on the ‘…

France is a key partner to UN Environment and our second largest contributor to the Environment Fund. I had the privilege of meeting Emmanuel Macron, President of France and  Laurent Fabius, President of the French Constitutional Council and a…