Sálvano Briceño

Sálvano Briceño was appointed the Director of the Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in June 2001.

His career has focused on the management of environmental and sustainable development programmes at the United Nations, the World Conservation Union and the Government of Venezuela.

Prior to joining UN/ISDR, Mr. Briceño was the Coordinator of the BIOTRADE and GHG Emissions Trading Initiatives of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva. Before that, he was Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification secretariat (1996-1999), following several years as the Coordinator of Intergovernmental and Institutional Support of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Further UN experience includes five years with UNEP's Caribbean Environment Programme at Kingston, Jamaica, where he collaborated closely with the Pan-Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Programme (1987-1991).

Earlier in his career, Mr. Briceño worked on environmental education programmes of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and coordinated a worldwide network of experts (1985-1987).

Mr. Briceño received a Doctorate in Administrative Law from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Sorbonne) in 1975 and a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1984.