Professor Youba Sokona

Prof SOKONA, with over decades of experience addressing energy, environment and sustainable development in Africa, has been at the heart of numerous national and continental initiatives. He is currently with the African Institute for Sustainable Energy and System Analysis. He was a Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sixth assessment report after serving as Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III for the fifth assessment following being a Lead Author since 1990. In 2007 he received a personalcertificate from the Nobel Committee marking his ‘significant contribution’ to the work of the IPCC, which received a joint award of the Nobel Peace Prize that year. He has a proven track record of organisational leadership and management, for example as Inaugural Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre and as Executive Secretary of the Sahara and the Sahel Observatory. He is affiliated with numerous boards and organisations. For example among others he is Honorary Professor at University College London, member of The World Academy of Sciences, the African Academy of Sciences, the International Council of Science, Associate member of the National Academy of Sciences and Technology of Senegal and Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Mali . In short, Prof SOKONA is a global figure, with deep technical knowledge, extensive policy experience and an unreserved personal commitment to African led development.