Dr. Stefanos Fotiou

Director, Office of Sustainable Development Goals, Head, UN Food Systems Coordination Hub 

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 

Stefanos Fotiou is an international expert on environment and sustainable development with over 25 years of experience in the United Nations system, private sector and research organizations. He currently serves as Director in the Office of Sustainable Development Goals in FAO as well as Head of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub hosted by FAO. In these roles, Stefanos provides strategic leadership and oversees implementation mechanism to support countries developing and implementing SDGs based agrifood transformations.  

Prior to joining FAO, Stefanos served16 years in the UN Secretariat including6years as Director in the Environment and Development Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific as well as 10 years in the UNEP leading global and regional work on green economy and sustainable consumption and production. 

Highlights of his achievements in these posts include: 

•Facilitating negotiations resulting in negotiated/normative outcomes (e.g. Davos Declaration on Climate Change and Tourism, Asia-Pacific Roadmap for the 2030 Agenda, etc.). 

•Establishing initiatives and partnerships on sustainable development (e.g. SDGs Helpdesk, Sustainable Rice Platform, UN/ASEAN Complementarities Initiative, Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, Global Sustainable Tourism Council, etc.). 

•Ideating and steering analytical work in the substantive areas of his responsibility.  

Before joining the UN, he had worked for the private sector and academia on issues of regional sustainable development. Throughout his career, Stefanos has taken leading roles in international fora, has conceptualized and led the development of regional and national strategies on environment and sustainable development and his work has been published and referenced. He holds a PhD in Natural Resource Economics, a Master of Science in Forestry and Natural Environment and a Master of Science in Information Systems.