Mami Mizutori
Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of UNDRR

Mami Mizutori is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

On 31 January 2018, the United Nations Secretary-General announced the appointment of Mami Mizutori as Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. 

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Mizutori was Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia, UK from 2011.

Ms. Mizutori served for twenty-seven years in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in various capacities, including: Budget Director; Director of the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC) at the Embassy of Japan in London; Director of the National Security Policy Division, Director of the United Nations Policy Division; Director of the Status of US Forces Agreement Division; and Deputy Director of the Personnel Division.

Having graduated in law from Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo and obtained a Diploma in International Studies from the Diplomatic School of Spain, she has taught courses on governance in East Asia at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and international studies at Waseda University, Tokyo.

A Japanese national, Ms. Mizutori speaks fluent Japanese, English and Spanish. She is married to Barak Kushner and lives in Geneva, Switzerland.

SRSG Mami Mizutori


Recent statements

a hazard sign on a beach in Tel Aviv with sirens to facilitate early warnings systems
Tsunamis can in an instant destroy entire towns and erase decades of development.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Afghanistan earthquake
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of UNDRR, Ms. Mami Mizutori, expresses her condolences to the families of the victims of the earthquake that struck western Afghanistan on 7 October
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
IDDRR card 2023
Fighting inequality is the theme of this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. This International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction let us reaffirm our commitment to investing in resilience, adaptation, and building a safe and just future.
United Nations - Headquarters
Storm Daniel Causes Flooding in Libya
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) expresses its sympathies to the people of Libya in the aftermath of the widespread flooding in the eastern part of the country.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Video messages


Articles and Op Eds

Mozambique - aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Idai, 2021
Greater efforts to limit death and destruction from disasters will help us protect development progress and adapt to climate change.
Context
Siren
When the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, toured the damage caused by the recent floods in Pakistan, he called the devastation “climate carnage.”
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
A family of street children & their mother collecting chestnuts scattered throughout the street, because the tree has fallen due to impact of cyclone Amphan, India (2020)
For a growing number of populations around the world, facing a future of more frequent and extreme disasters will only be possible if more funding is channelled towards adaptation and disaster risk reduction, writes Mami Mizutori.
EurActiv Network
Group of people brainstorming on globe
The focus of this year’s IDDRR on 13 October is on a topic which has been pushed to the fore by the debates raging around the faltering response to planetary emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic an, the climate emergency.
UN Chronicle
Our work - Mami Mizutori
Q&A with Mami Mizutori
"90 percent of disaster funding is spent only after disaster strikes. It goes on relief, the response and reconstruction. Only 10 percent is spent on prevention. But the gap is widening between the need for humanitarian aid and what the international community is able to provide."
Read the interview

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