The Standing Committee of the Convention on Wetlands has appointed Dr Musonda Mumba as the new Secretary General of the Convention. Dr Mumba will be the seventh Secretary General, succeeding Ms Martha Rojas Urrego who has served the Convention for the past six years.
The Convention on Wetlands is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. Since then, almost 90% of UN member states, from all the world’s geographic regions, have acceded to become “Contracting Parties”.
Experienced environmentalist
Dr Mumba is a Zambian-born environmentalist with over 25 years of global experience, working at both scientific and political levels on climate change adaptation, conservation, protected areas management, wetlands ecology, environmental management and sustainable development. She joins the Convention from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she has served as Senior Advisor on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, leading UNDP’s engagement as a Strategic Collaborating Partner in the Decade. She was also the Director for the Rome Centre for Sustainable Development, under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in close collaboration with the Italian Government’s Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition. The Centre focuses on three priority areas: climate change, sustainable development, and nature protection. In her role, Dr Mumba provided strategic leadership on these matters through convening, collaboration, connecting, and co-creation as the world navigates complexity and uncertainty, with the aim of achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals collectively. She was also the Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) and Vice-Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF).
Career at UN Environment
Prior to joining UNDP, Dr Mumba worked at the global headquarters of the UN Environment Programme for 12 years in different functions, including as Head of the UNEP Terrestrial Ecosystems Programme. She joined UN Environment in October 2008, as a programme officer in Climate Change Adaptation Unit based in Nairobi, requested to lead the work on the development of the Global Adaptation Network (GAN) and also develop new proposals for the unit. She eventually secured resources to lead and coordinate the Ecosystems based Adaptation (EbA) Mountain Programme, a programmatic alliance with UN Environment, IUCN and UNDP (2011 – 2016) working in Peru, Nepal and Uganda. She has also been UN Environment’s focal point on Mountains.
Back to the Convention on Wetlands
Dr Musonda Mumba is no stranger to the Convention on Wetlands, having worked at the Secretariat of the Convention as a Junior Professional between 1998 and 1999.
Dr. Musonda Mumba started her career at the Environmental Council of Zambia and has held positions with WWF at its international headquarters in Switzerland, in UK and in East Africa regional offices.Her professional experience led her to work with several governments across the world cutting across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Dr Mumba Musonda holds a PhD in Wetland Hydrology and Conservation from University College London (UCL), and has published extensively in scientific journals and as a contributor to book chapters and in news media. She is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL and a visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Perry World House (PWH) of University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Musonda Mumba is the founder of the Network of African Women Environmentalists (NAWE) and she has received numerous accolades for her work, including being named one the 100 most influential African women. On International Women’s Day 2022, she was honoured by the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) as one of 16 women from around the world restoring the planet.
