Ambassador for Climate Change and Environment, Tuvalu

International and Regional Liaison Officer, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre 

Representative to the UN, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Mr. David O’Connor is Representative to the UN of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Prior to that, Mr. O'Connor was the Chief of the Policy and Analysis Branch of the Division for Sustainable Development at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, position in which he led the substantive support to the negotiation of the Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by world leaders in September 2015. O'Connor was centrally engaged in supporting the Rio+20 processes to define sustainable development goals (SDGs), to develop a financing strategy for sustainable development and to explore options for a technology facilitation mechanism to encourage international cooperation in development and transfer of clean and environmentally sound technologies. He managed the teams which produced the first two editions of the Global Sustainable Development Report mandated by the Rio+20 Conference as a tool to strengthen the science-policy interface at the High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development. Before joining the UN, Mr. O’Connor was Senior Economist at the OECD Development Centre, researching the many areas of sustainable development. He has also published extensively on climate policies and their co-benefits in developing countries.

Chief, Policy Analysis Branch, Division for Sustainable Development, UN-DESA

Shantanu presently heads the policy and analysis branch in the Sustainable Development Division within the UN's Department for Economic and Social Affairs. He is is a micro-economist with interests in poverty, health and sustainability. A particular area of focus in his current position is enhancing the impact of science, technology and innovation in advancing sustainable development.

Prior to this, he led the research unit of UNDP’s Human Development Report through two report cycles, preceded by a stint as head of UNDP’s global MDG policy work. In that position, he worked with national planning, finance and sector ministries in many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Some of his most interesting experiences during this period were in Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Ghana, Togo and Yemen.

Shantanu began his career with the Indian Government in various areas of development policy planning, implementation and finance.

He earned a PhD in Economics from Princeton University in 2006, and also holds advanced degrees in Public Policy and Physics.

Head, Project Implementation Unit, Committee for Environment Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan

Director, Yangon Regional Environmental Conservation Department, Secretary of Yangon Region Environmental Conservation and Climate Change Supervision Committee, Myanmar

Co-Chair of the Secretary-General’s Science Advisory Group for Climate Summit

Dr. Leena Srivastava is the Vice Chancellor of the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi – an inter-disciplinary higher education institution, focussed on sustainable development. She has a Masters in Economics from the University of Hyderabad and a Ph.D in Energy Economics from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India.

She is a Co- Chair, Science Advisory Group, UN Secretary Generals 2019 Climate Action Summit; and Co-Chair, Future Earth; and member of: President's Advisory Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank; Ad Hoc Informal Multi-stakeholder Technical Group of Advisors on Sustainable Development Goal 7, United Nations, Division for Sustainable Development; Global Sustainable Water and Energy Solutions Network; the International Advisory Panel of Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany, the Carbon Trust Advisory Panel, UK;. the Research Advisory Committee, WWF-India, Council of Advisors for Fraunhofer, India. She has recently been recognized as an IIASA Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

She is also an Independent and Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Bharti Infratel Ltd. and Shree Cement Ltd., India. She serves on the Sustainable Development Advisory Board, Caterpillar Inc. USA; the Sustainability Advisory Board of Cairn Energy, Vedanta Resources and Consocia Advisory, India