Mahesh Pradhan

Mahesh has over 25 years of experience with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is currently based at UNEP HQs in Nairobi. In his earlier role as Chief of UNEP’s Environmental Education and Training Unit, he launched the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) in the lead up to the Rio+20 Summit, which comprises of over 800 universities across Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, North America, and West Asia. He also launched UNEP’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Ecosystems-based Disaster Risk Reduction. From 2016 onwards, Mahesh was working on holistic waste management issues at UNEP’s International Environmental Technology Centre in Osaka, prior to returning to Nairobi in 2019 to take up the coordinating role of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management.  Mahesh currently serves as the focal point of the UN Environment Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management, where he is also actively engaged in the development of a global UN campaign on Nitrogen.