A recognized and respected figure on the environment, Monique Barbut has followed a career devoted to public service and multilateralism. Mrs. Barbut had a long career at the Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD). She was a member of the French government delegation to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where she was a key player in financing negotiations, and later on, an active negotiator in the creation of the Global Environment Facility and the French Global Environment Facility, where she was appointed as its first CEO. From 2003 to 2006, she headed the Technology, Industry and Economics Division of the United Nations Environment Program before becoming CEO and President of the GEF in June 2006.She was appointed as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2013 by the United Nations Secretary General. She became Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations in 2016 and then joined the WWF France Board of Trustees in 2018.