Thematic Solution Forum 9

Education Qualifications:

– Undergraduate Degree in International Relations, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Ankara, Turkey;
– MA in International Relations, Social Sciences Institute of the University of Ankara, Turkey;
– Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD), Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA.

Assignments:

1986: Entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Greece -Cyprus Department, Ankara;
1988: Department of Multilateral Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Ankara;
1990: Third Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;
1992: Vice Consul, Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey in Brussels, Belgium;
1995: (Educational leave) Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA;
1997: First Secretary, Middle East Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Ankara;
1999: Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Tokyo, Japan;
2003: Head of Department, UN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Ankara;
2005: First Counsellor, Turkish Permanent Delegation to the OECD and Turkish Energy Advisor at the International Energy Agency, Paris, France;
2007: Consul General, Turkish Consulate General Dubai, UAE;
2009: Acting Deputy Director General for Energy, Water and Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara;
2010: Minister Plenipotentiary Deputy Director General for Energy, Water and Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara;
2012: Turkish Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar;
2016: Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara;
2017: Deputy Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara.

Since October 2015, Mr. Jorge Chediek has been the Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, leading United Nations system-wide promotion and coordination of South-South cooperation for development. In March 2016, Mr. Chediek was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General as his Envoy on South-South Cooperation.

Prior to this, Mr. Chediek served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Brazil (2010-2015). In that capacity, he was also the Director of the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, UNDP’s global forum for policy dialogue and South-South learning on social development innovations. He served as Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Peru (2005-2010); United Nations Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Nicaragua (2001-2005); Deputy Resident Representative in Cuba (1999-2001); Deputy Resident Representative in Uruguay (1996-1999); Programme Management Officer, Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States in New York (1994-1996); and Programme Officer and then Assistant Resident Representative in Turkey (1990-1994).

Preceding his United Nations career, Mr. Chediek worked at the Department of Legislative Analysis of the Argentinean Congress and as an independent consultant assisting in the design of financial investment systems in Argentina.

Born in 1960, he holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service (honors) from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Science (“Licenciado”) in Political Science from Catholic University in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Ould-Dada is currently Head of Technology Unit at the Economy Division of UNEP based in Paris. Since joining UNEP in 2013 he has been leading work on the global diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to help countries achieve their intergovernmental agreements particularly on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Before joining UNEP, he worked for the British Government for 15 years holding several senior positions at Department of Energy and Climate Change; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Food Standards Agency; Environment Agency, and Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food. His 20 years international experience covers a wide range of fields including environmental policy; climate change; energy policy; radiation protection; animal health and welfare; and sustainable development.

His international responsibilities included UK Lead Negotiator on technology and Chair of climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC; Chair of IRENA’s Policy and Strategy Committee; and member of the IEA Renewable Energy Working Party. Dr. Ould-Dada is renowned internationally for his diplomatic skills and effective leadership with a track record for building successful partnerships, resolving conflicts and delivering practical solutions.

Dr. Uğur Zeydanlı is founding member and general director of Nature Conservation Centre since 2004. He leads Nature Conservation Centre for delivering science-based solutions to natural resource management and biodiversity conservation trough establishment of effective partnerships, since its establishment.

His main interest is to form bridge between science and implementation from policy level to implementation, in biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management. He conducted studies in establishment of protected area network in Turkey, integration of biodiversity into the forest management planning, adaptation of forest ecosystems into climate change, establishment of Biodiversity Information Monitoring System in Turkey, introduction of ecosystem services into agriculture and forestry sectors as a management tool. He has developed and implemented more than 80 projects on these topics in partnership with governmental institutions, private sector, NGO’s, academia and multinational organizations.

He recieved his PhD from Middle East Technical University (Turkey), Biology Department. Since then he has worked as conservation biologist and ecologist in General Directorate of National Parks and Nature Conservation, private sector and many different environmental non-governmental organisations; for UNDP and FAO as consultant.

He has conducted research on natural resource management and ecosystem services as Fulbright scholar in US, Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2016. He also has 10 years of teaching experience at academic level at METU Middle East Technical University in City and Regional Planning Department.

Dr. Friederich is a Dutch National with more than 30 years working experience in Africa, Asia and Europe as natural resources manager; He has worked for local and national government, managed projects and programmes in an international organization, and had national, regional and global briefs. Strategic planning and long-term thinking has been part of the job for most of his career.

Dr. Friederich obtained his PhD from the University of Bristol, Geography Department and started his career in 1982 in Botswana. He joined the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1989 in Eastern Africa and has been employed by IUCN for 24 years, in positions with increasing responsibility and authority. His last post with IUCN was Regional Director for Europe.

In 1994, Dr. Friederich moved to the ASEAN Region, when he joined the National Environment Agency in Vietnam as Chief Technical Advisor. He was IUCN’s Country Representative in Hanoi from 1996 to 1999, and was based in Bangkok as Chief Technical Advisor for a UNDP/GEF Wetlands Conservation and Development Project in the lower Mekong Region from 1999 to end of 2003. In January 2004, Dr. Friederich moved to Switzerland, as the Head of the global fundraising unit of IUCN.

He is now the Director-General of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR – www.inbar.int), based at its Headquarters in Beijing, China. INBAR is an international Inter-Governmental Organization with currently 43 Member States, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of producers and users of bamboo and rattan within the context of sustainable development.

Dr. Friederich has helped INBAR to make the change from a forestry research institution to a global development organization, through spearheading a new strategy, strengthening the relationship with United Nations and several Global Conventions and launching the Global Assessment of Bamboo and Rattan.

Vicente Paolo B. Yu III is currently the Deputy Executive Director of the South Centre, the intergovernmental policy research institution of developing countries. His substantive policy work includes overseeing the policy research and analysis and the provision of technical and legal advice by the South Centre to developing country governments, including on the right to development, international trade policy, international environmental law, development economics, international climate change policy, and South-South cooperation. He obtained his political science (with honors) and law degrees from the University of the Philippines, and his master of laws degree (with honors, specializing in international trade law and international environmental law) from Georgetown University where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to joining the South Centre, he worked for Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and was a Staff Attorney and head for Research and Policy Development of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) in the Philippines. He has taught law at the University of the Philippines. He has published papers and articles on issues relating to trade and environment, energy policy, mining policy, sustainable development, environmental policy, climate change policy, South-South cooperation, and indigenous peoples’ rights.

Nuri Özbağdatlı has been managing climate change and environment portfolio of UNDP Turkey Country Office. Mr. Özbağdatlı has an extensive career on nature conservation, climate change, and programme management that started as a bird watcher under the BirdLife International roof in Turkey in 1999. Mr. Özbağdatlı has been worked on several subjects including species and habitat conservation, agriculture and rural development policies, local-national-international NGO capacity building, water policies, EU acquis and climate change.

Mr. Özbağdatlı also worked with REC Turkey as a Project Manager responsible on the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) of implementing Birds and Habitat Directives of EU and climate change related projects. Mr. Özbağdatlı held manager position at several projects implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Ministry of Forest and Water Affairs, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and several governorships and municipalities.

In his last 7 years long career with UNDP, he managed several projects on forestry sector and initiated SDG focused MRV system and linkages between forestry sector SDG indicators at national scale. Nuri has knowledge and experience on the synergy between nature and human dynamics, as well as policies, at national and international scale.

Born in 1979, he holds a BSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Erciyes University and an MBA Degree from Atilim University, as well as a Forestry Executive Certificate from Yale University.

Bernd is a Programme Officer with the Mitigation, Data and Analysis Programme at the UNFCCC Secretariat. He works on the negotiations for the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and supports governments in the preparation and implementation of these NDCs, including through south-south cooperation. As part of the advisory team that worked with governments on negotiating and adopting the Paris Agreement, he focused on the section that establishes the NDCs and related issues (Article 4).

Bernd has extensive experience in developing, implementing and monitoring mitigation and development policies as well as a strong understanding of integrating climate and sustainable development policies into long-term development strategies, both in the context of the UNFCCC and the 2030 sustainable development agenda.

Mr. Ayman Cherkaoui is currently the Special Advisor to the COP 22 Presidency, Lead Counsel for Climate Change at the CISDL, CEO of Argan Consulting, Expert for GIZ, and Fellow at the Oxford Climate Policy Centre. Mr. Cherkaoui has also worked for Valyans Consulting, IATA and Air Liquide. Mr. Cherkaoui holds a M.Sc. in Finance (EM Lyon), a Law degree (Université de Montréal) and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering (McGill University). He also holds degrees in business sustainability (University of Cambridge), climate change adaptation (University of Oxford) as well as a number of certificates in environment and diplomacy from various universities. He has published on law, investment and climate adaptation topics and has spoken in/moderated dozens of international conferences.