The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon has appointed Ibrahim Thiaw of Mauritania as Deputy Executive Director of the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

A statement from UNEP said Tuesday Thiaw succeeds Amina Mohamed of Kenya as Assistant Secretary-General and UNEP Deputy Executive Director. Mohamed is currently Kenya's cabinet secretary for foreign affairs.

"Thiaw's professional qualifications and over 30 years of experience in the fields of environment and sustainable development, coupled with his knowledge of UNEP and multilateral processes, make him an outstanding choice for this position," UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.

Thiaw joined UNEP's Senior Management Team in 2007 as Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation.

Among other work, the Division spearheads UNEP's ecosystem management sub-programme, which promotes an approach to natural resource management focusing on sustaining terrestrial and marine ecosystems to meet both ecological and human needs.

He also held lead responsibility for UNEP's Post Conflict and Disasters Subprogramme.

Steiner said Thiaw has led UNEP's contribution to intergovernmental processes such as the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

"I congratulate him on his appointment and look forward to working with him in his new capacity as UNEP evolves its work on the inclusive Green Economy, the outcomes of the Rio+20 Summit and the post 2015 sustainable development agenda," Steiner said.

Thiaw began his career in the Ministry of Rural Development in Mauritania where he worked from 1983-1992 and played a key role in the development of Mauritania's national environment institutions and policies.

In 1992 he joined International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) where he held a series of positions including in the Sahel Programme with subsequent appointment as Africa Coordinator, Regional Director - West Africa and prior to joining UNEP- as Acting Director-General of IUCN.

Thiaw holds an advanced degree in forestry and forest product techniques. He is married with three children.

"Thiaw's professional career spans the full spectrum of practical work at national and regional levels to leading global programmes and experience of UN inter-agency and intergovernmental processes," Ban said of Thiaw's appointment.