New Delhi: India’s Satya S Tripathi, a development and environment expert, has been appointed as Assistant Secretary General and will head the United Nations Environment Programme’s New York Office.

The appointment was made my United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.


Tripathi holds Honours Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Commerce, and Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Law from Berhampur University, India.

He will succeed Elliott Harris of Trinidad and Tobago. Tripathi is now the third Indian at the senior levels of the UN hierarchy.

Tripathi has served as Senior Adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at UNEP, since 2017.

A development economist and lawyer with over 35 years of experience, Mr. Tripathi has worked for the United Nations since 1998 in Europe, Asia and Africa on strategic assignments in sustainable development, human rights, democratic governance and legal affairs, UN said.

He was the Director and Executive Head of the United Nations Office for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD)+ Coordination in Indonesia, as well as for the United Nations Recovery Coordinator for the US$ 7 billion post-tsunami and post-conflict recovery efforts in Aceh and Nias.

He also chaired the Committees on Laws and Treaties for the UN-mediated Cyprus unification talks in 2004.