The Head of India’s National Disaster Management Authorities Kamal Kishore has been appointed the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and UN Secretary–General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.  

He succeeds Mami Mizutori of Japan, who led the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) between 2018 and 2023 and who successfully engaged all DRR stakeholders, especially civil society groups such as women, youth and the media. 

Kishore brings to the position nearly three decades of experience in disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development at the global, regional, national and local levels, having worked in government, the UN and civil society organisations. He has been a regular contributor to programmes and videos produced over the years by ABU as part of its DRR and Climate Action Projects. 

Kishore was interviewed by the ABU–led global teams for syndicated coverage of the conference of the parties (COPs) in Glasgow and Sharm El-Sheikh, and the 2022 Global Platform for disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Bali. He also took part in ‘Climate Talk’, an online programme jointly produced by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). 

Before joining the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Kishore spent nearly thirteen years with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Geneva, New Delhi and New York. Prior to UNDP, he served as Director of Information and Research, and Manager of the Extreme Climate Events Programme covering Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam at ADPC in Bangkok from 1996 to 2002.