Prof Zakri Abdul Hamid is a champion of the environment and a passionate advocate for sustainable development. A member of the prestigious Scientific Advisory Board to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia (2010–2018), Prof Zakri trained as an agricultural scientist and earned his PhD in 1976 at Michigan State University, United States.He was appointed as a science expert in the Malaysian delegation for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (now known as the UN Biodiversity Treaty) which was signed during the 1992 Earth Summit, and was elected Chair of the CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (1997 – 1998).
Prof Zakri is also known for his work as co-chair of the 2005 UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), one of the world’s largest-ever scientific collaborations involving over 2,000 leading scientists from 95 countries.Prof Zakri was the Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the United Nations University (UNU-IAS) in Tokyo, Japan, and contributed towards the setting up of The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Prof Zakri is also the Patron of the INGSA-Asia Chapter. He is the Chair of the pilot
Southeast Asia Science Advice Network (SEA SAN).