Peter Thomson

Ambassador Peter Thomson has served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean since 2017, in which role he is driving the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, to conserve and sustainably use the resources of the Ocean. He was elected to the serve as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations for its 2016-17 term. He was Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2010 to 2016, during which time he was President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS). He led the Fiji team of diplomats that in 2013 chaired the Group of 77 and China – the UN’s largest negotiating group, comprised of 133 developing countries. He was elected as President of the International Seabed Authority’s Assembly in 2011 and as President of its Council in 2015. Ambassador Peter Thomson is a founding Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action and is a supporting member of the High-Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy. He has been conferred with Honorary Doctorates by the University of Bergen and the University of Edinburgh. Ambassador Thomson is a Member of the Order of Fiji.