UN Economic and Social Development
Division for Sustainable Development

Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala
Message from the Chair

Dr. Luis Alberto Ferraté Felice was elected Chairperson of the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, representing Latin America and the Carribean.

Dr. Luis Alberto Ferraté is a Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala. He holds a degree in environmental engineering from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala and a Master’s and PhD in Geography from the University of Oregon, USA. The Minister also has specialized in Photogrammetric, Geomorphology and Satellite Interpretation in the Washington Science Center and Georgetown University in the USA and the International Institute for Geo-information and Earth Observation in Netherlands. Dr. Ferraté undertook several post doctoral studies in communication and social sciences, environmental management and planning, territorial vulnerability and protected area systems.

From 1957 to 1975, Minister Ferraté served as Director of The Geography Department of the Natural Geographic Institute of Guatemala and Director of Ecological Research at the National Forest Institute of Guatemala. He was the Founder and Coordinator of the Natural Advisory Commission on the Human Environment from 1974-1976.

He worked in the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) between 1981 and 2000 in various positions and was the leader in the development of the environmental management system of the IDB. Between 2000 and 2008, Dr. Ferraté provided consultancies in several international organizations, including the expansion of the Panama Canal.

Permanent Representative of the Philippines

H.E. Mr. Hilario G. Davide Jr has been an Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Philippines since February 2007 to which position he came from being a Senior Presidential Adviser on Electoral Reforms. He is the Vice-Chairman representing Asia on the Bureau of the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

Ambassador Davide has had a distinguished career in public service which he entered upon graduating from the University of Philippines University College of Law. He held a number of senior positions, such as Chairman of the Committee on Duties and Obligations of Citizens and Ethics of Public Officials, Assemblyman for Cebu, Chairman of the Commission’s Committee on the Legislative Power and a member of the Committees on the Executive Power, the Judiciary, Style and Public Hearings. He was also a Chairman of the Presidential Fact-Finding Commission that investigated the 1989 military rebellion and recommend measures to prevent the occurrence of similar attempts at a violent seizure of power.

Ambassador Davide is the recipient of many awards such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, Most Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association, the 2003 Man of the Year Award by the Philippine Free Press, the 2000 Filipino of the Year Award by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the 2001 Rule of Law Award, the 1999 The Outstanding Filipino Award in Environmental Law, the 2003 Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion Award for Legal Aid by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the 2006 American Bar Association International Rule of Law Award and 13 honorary degrees in doctoral law and humanities.

Ambassador at the Libyan Permanent Mission to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Al-Mabrok Alahraf was posted to the Libyan Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York in 2005 as Counsellor and was promoted to the rank of Ambassador in 2009. He is the Vice-Chairman representing Africa on the Bureau of the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development

Ambassador Al-Mabrok Alahraf is a career diplomat serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also in Embassies in Romania and Zambia. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he was in charge of overseeing non-governmental organizations and then African Affairs. He was a member of the Libyan Delegation to a number of African Summit conferences.

In the Libyan Permanent Mission, he is responsible for 2nd and 3rd Committees of the General Assembly and participated in international conferences dealing with financing for development, Millennium Development Goals, international migration, and sustainable development issues, including climate change, environmental issues, and African development needs.

Ambassador Al-Mabrok Alahraf holds B.A in Political Science, University of Garyounis, Benghazi, Libya.

Head of Division Product-related Environmental Protection & Standardization of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation & Nuclear Safety

Dr. Ulf Jaeckel is a Head of Division Product-related Environmental Protection and Standardization of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety since August 2005. He is the Vice-Chairman representing Western European and Others States on the Bureau of the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.

Dr. Jaeckel was a coordinator of the National Dialogue Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production, first secretary at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the OECD in Paris, member of the OECD Joint Working Party on Trade and Environment and counselor on environmental economic policy at the Division for Environment and Economy, Trade and Investment Issues of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

He was also a researcher and then lecturer in economics at the School of Mining and Engineering in Clausthal-Zellerfold, Germany and also at the Cracow University of Technology in Poland and Technical University in Fuxin, China.

Dr. Jaeckel holds a PhD in Environmental Economics from the Technical University of Clausthal, Germany.

Vice-Chair representing the Eastern European States

Ms. Tania Valerie Raguz is the Vice-Chair representing the Eastern European States on the Bureau of the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. She was also a Vice-Chair of the seventeenth session of the Commission.

During 2008, Ms. Raguz returned as First Secretary to the Permanent Mission of Croatia to the United Nations, with primary responsibility for economic, international trade and development issues.

Since joining the Croatian Foreign Service in 1996, Ms. Raguz served in the Departments for the U.N., Human Rights, and Protocol within the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. Previous diplomatic postings for Ms. Raguz have included Washington D.C. (2004-2008) and the United Nations in New York (1998-2002).

As part of her responsibilities in the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Ms. Raguz served as a member of the Croatian National Committee responsible for drafting the first National program of Action for Children as follow-up to the World Summit for Children, as well as in the secretariat to the Governmental Working Group on Harmonization of National Legislation with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Ms. Raguz has also worked on a number of Croatian publications pertaining to U.N. issues.

During her initial posting to the United Nations in New York, Ms. Raguz was involved in the work of a number of Preparatory Bureaus for various U.N. conferences, in particular the Preparatory Committee’s task force for the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development. Ms. Raguz also closely assisted the President of ECOSOC during the Croatian presidency in 2002.

Ms. Raguz holds a Bachelor's degree in Law from the University of Birmingham and qualified as a Solicitor of Law in the United Kingdom.