Paul V. Desanker Manager, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Paul is a Manager in the Adaptation Programme of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany, and is responsible for the subprogramme on National Adaptation Plans and Policy (NAPP). He has extensive experience working on issues related to adaptation to climate change, ecological modeling, remote sensing, integrated assessment, and has served as Coordinating Lead Author of the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC. His professional experience within the United Nations also includes work on capacity-building and outreach, and he now supports work on National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs, http://unfccc.int/ldc) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs, http://unfccc.int/nap). He oversaw the development of the technical guidelines for NAPAs in 2001 that have been used by the least developed countries in preparing NAPAs, and more recently, technical guidelines for the NAPs that are being used by developing countries to prepare National Adaptation Plans. He serves as secretary to the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG).
Prior to his current position, he served as a member and Chair of the UNFCCC LDC Expert Group, and was an Associate Professor of Geography at Penn State University, and as Assistant Research Professor at the University of Virginia. He coordinated the Miombo Network from 1994 to 2006, under the auspices of the IGBP and START.
Paul holds a Masters degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Forest Biometrics from Michigan Technological University, USA, and BSc (Hons) in Forestry from Aberdeen University, Scotland.