CAREC 2030: Connecting the Region for Shared and Sustainable Development
Stefanos Fotiou
Stefanos Fotiou is an expert on sustainable development and environmental management and currently serving in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) as the Director of the "Environment and Development" Division.
Under his portfolio he is planning, coordinating and managing the work of UN-ESCAP on sustainable development, quality of growth, urbanization, natural resources management, climate change, and the post-2015 UN development agenda.
Prior to this assignment Stefanos worked for 10 years in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under various roles and including substantive and managerial work in the areas of resource efficiency, cities’ resilience, sustainable consumption and production, green economy etc.
When he joined the UN in 2006 he brought with him 13 years of experience from work in the private sector, NGOs and posts in research and academic institutes as well as the European Commission where he served for three years as an external expert on setting up a network of protected natural areas in Europe.
Throughout his professional career, which began in research and has included lecturing assignments at many universities, Stefanos has taken leading roles in international forums and initiatives and his individual and joint works have been widely published. He has facilitated the compilation of dozens of national, regional and sectoral studies and strategies on environment and sustainable development and he has been involved in projects in 45 countries worldwide.
He has conceptualised projects and initiatives and fundraised dozens of millions of USD to implement regional and country level activities in the areas of his work.
A Greek national he holds a PhD in Natural Resource Economics from Aristotle University in Greece, a Master of Science in Information Systems from the University of Macedonia, and a Master in Forestry and Natural Environment from Aristotle University.