Chair, Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Strategic Advisory Group
Dr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna (Rama) was formerly the Head of Strategic Planning at the Green Climate Fund (GCF). He came to GCF after serving as the head of the UNESCAP ENEA Office, covering six member States of ESCAP—China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and Russian Federation, and two Associate members—Hong Kong and Macao. In this capacity, he also provided secretariat services to the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC). For five years Dr. Ramakrishna worked for the UN Environment Programme in various capacities including as the Principal Policy Advisor to the Executive Director. He was a lead author of the fifth assessment (and many before it) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Coordinating Lead Author of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and lead author of Interlinkages Assessment.
In addition, Dr. Ramakrishna taught at a number of law schools including at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard Law School, Boston University and Boston College Law Schools, Brandeis and Yale Universities. He is an elected life member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. He holds B.Sc. and B.L. degrees in sciences and law, and masters and Ph.D. degrees in international law.