Geneva: A top official of India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Kamal Kishore (55) has been appointed Assistant and Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said in the daily press conference.
The post held by Kishor in NDMA is of the level of Secretary to the Government of India. She replaces Japan’s Mami Mizutori at UNDRR. During India’s presidency of the G20, Kishor led the G20 Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction.
He also contributed to the development of the Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Coalition launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Climate Action Summit in 2019. Dujarric said Kishore has three decades of experience working in government, United Nations and civil society organizations in disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development at the global, regional, national and local levels.
Before joining NDMA, Kishore worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for about 13 years in Geneva, Delhi and New York. Kishore holds a Master of Science in Urban Planning, Land and Housing Development from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.