Fruzsina Straus is Head of the Risk Management and Peacebuilding Section in UNEP’s Disaster and Conflict Branch. With more than 20 years of experience across the UN system, she specializes in disaster risk reduction, resilience, conflict prevention, and post-conflict recovery, with a growing focus on climate, peace, and security.

Before joining UNEP, she led UN-Habitat’s Urban Resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Action portfolio in Africa, overseeing programmes in fragile and climate-vulnerable contexts, including Small Island Developing States, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel. She also managed seven country programmes focused on resilience-building and conflict-sensitive urban development.

Previously, she worked with ESCWA in the Middle East on public governance, conflict analysis, and post-conflict development planning, and spent a decade in New York supporting sustainable development, civil society engagement, and the 2030 Agenda.    

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