OS
Oyun Sanjaasuren
Green Climate Fund
Director of External Affairs
Presentation
Dr Oyun Sanjaasuren has been appointed by the Green Climate Fund as its Director of External Affairs, effective from 9 July 2018.
Dr Oyun served as the first President of the United Nations Environment Assembly and is currently Chair of the Global Water Partnership. She also served both as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Environment and Green Development in Mongolia.
In her new role, Dr Oyun will lead GCF’s external relations, supporting Executive Director Howard Bamsey as GCF prepares to enter its first replenishment period.
In 2014, Dr Oyun was elected to be the first President of the United Nations Environment Assembly, the governing body of UN Environment. During her tenure, she has promoted environmental cooperation at a variety of international events on issues relating to sustainable development, climate change and water security. Since 2016 she has also served as Chair of the Global Water Partnership, a network designed to improve water management by working with over 3,000 institutional partners in more than 180 countries.
Before leaving Mongolian politics in 2016, Dr Oyun served five consecutive terms in the country’s parliament, including as Minister of Environment and Green Development (2012-2014) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007-2008). Under her leadership, the Ministry of Environment and Green Development became one of Mongolia’s four core ministries while the parliament approved the country’s green development strategy in 2014.
A geochemist by training, with a Ph.D in Earth Sciences from the University of Cambridge, Dr Oyun’s active public life extends beyond environmental protection to include advancing civil and social rights. Oyun is a member of advisory boards of a number of global initiatives including the Green Growth Knowledge Platform, Future Earth and International Environment Technology Centre of UNEP. She is also the founding member and the Chair of the Special Olympics Mongolia and heads the Zorig Foundation, a Mongolian NGO that advances democracy and supports youth and education.
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