The Board of Governors is delighted to announce the appointment of Jeremy Bird as the next director general of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Bird brings diverse experience to IWMI as it faces the challenges of sustainable land and water management in an environment of increasing competition for resources.
Originally from the UK, Bird has worked extensively across a number of regions in natural resource research, policy and strategy development and project assessment. Following research assignments with HR Wallingford, he worked for the Asian Development Bank, the World Commission on Dams, the United Nations Environment Programme and, until 2011, was the CEO of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat.
Bird has bachelors and masters degrees in civil and irrigation engineering respectively, as well as a master’s degree in water law with a specialization in shared river basins.
He places a strong emphasis on increasing our understanding of the complex and multi-dimensional processes that shape water management. He is committed to getting research results into the public domain as the basis for identifying integrated and effective solutions.
Bird has contributed to several international processes on water resources management. He was recently appointed as an ‘outcome ambassador’ of the Bonn2011 initiative on the Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for UNEPs water programme.
He aims to build on the outstanding foundation of research excellence and relevance that the current Director General, Colin Chartres, and his team have built up at IWMI over the past five years.
He will commence at IWMI on October 1, 2012.
