Ms.
Katharina Kummer Peiry (click
here to open Ms. Kummer Peiry's CV) heads the Secretariat
of the Basel Convention since September 2007. A specialist
in international environmental law and policy, she
has worked on issues related to the Basel Convention
since 1988, when she joined the United Nations Environment
Programme in Nairobi to assist in the negotiation process
of the Convention. 2008 thus marked her personal 20th
anniversary with the Basel Convention.
Serving in the International
Affairs Division of the Swiss Agency of Environment,
and subsequently as Head of Section on Environmental
Affairs in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs from 1994 to 1999, Katharina Kummer Peiry participated
in various environmental negotiation processes and
chaired negotiating groups on legal and institutional
issues. In 2000, she founded a consulting firm specializing
in international environmental policy and law, with
which she worked until 2007. From 1999 to 2007, she
also taught international environmental law at the
Master level at the University of Berne (Switzerland).
Katharina Kummer Peiry holds
a PhD in International Law from the University of London
(United Kingdom) and a Master of Law from the University
of Zurich (Switzerland), as well as a Certificate of
Advanced Studies in Mediation from the University of
St. Gallen (Switzerland). She has authored, and contributed
to, numerous academic publications on international
environmental law, international chemicals and waste
management and other environmental issues. 1995 saw
the publication of her book International Management
of Hazardous Wastes: The Basel Convention and Related
Legal Rules. It is still considered by many as
the standard work on the Basel Convention.
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