Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, UN-ISDR, Geneva, Switzerland

Margareta Wahlström has over 30 years of extensive national and international experience in humanitarian relief operations in disaster and conflict areas, and in institution-building to strengthen national capacity for disaster preparedness, response and for risk reduction.
In November 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced her appointment as the first Special Representative to the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. Ms. Wahlström is based in Geneva and heads UNISDR, the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Ms. Wahlström has an academic background in economic history, political science, social anthropology, archaeology and philosophy of science. Besides her mother tongue Swedish, Ms. Wahlström speaks English, French and Spanish.