Karen SUDMEIER-RIEUX

Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux Environmental is an education outreach specialist with two decades of experience researching, teaching and publishing on ecosystem restoration for reducing climate risks, currently working with the G20 Global Land Initiative / UNCCD.

Karen has coordinated the development of three post-graduate courses and was the lead developer of two Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), most notably: ‘Nature-based Solutions for Disaster and Climate Resilience’, with over 120,000 registered. She is an affiliated Senior Scientist at TH-Köln, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Prior to this, Karen was a Senior Adviser, Disaster Risk Reduction with the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Disasters and Conflicts program in Geneva Switzerland, where she managed several large projects related to ‘Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction’.

Karen is also a scholar of ecosystem management for landslide management and developed the concept of “Eco-Safe Roads”, with expertise from the Himalayas. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Masters’ degrees in international development and forest ecology from Switzerland and the United States. She continues to give university lectures and mentors students worldwide.