Monique Barbut, born in 1956 in Morocco, is a French public servant who served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from 2013 until 2019.
[1][2] She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 16 September 2013.
[3] Barbut obtained her Master of Philosophy in Economics and Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Paris.
[4] She subsequently held a number of high-ranking positions, including Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of GEF (2006-2012) and Director of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics at the United Nations Environment Programme (2003-2006).
Later in her career, Barbut served as the Special Adviser to the Chief Executive Officer of the Agence Française pour le Développement (AFD) from 2012 to 2013.