The Secretariat

A secretariat under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is headed by  Johan Schaar, former Special Representative for the Tsunami Operation at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Anders Wijkman, Member of the European Parliament, is also linked to the Commission as chair of the Commission's expert group, consisting of researchers and advisors from a range of institutes and organisations.

Headed by Director Johan Schaar, the Secretariat supports the work of the Commission. 

Johan Schaar was the Special Representative for the Tsunami Operation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Geneva, in 2005-2007. In 2000-2004 he was the Head of Division for Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict Management, Sida, Stockholm. In 1987-2000 he undertook a number of assignments for the IFRC, Swedish Red Cross and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. He holds a PhD from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Turid Tersmeden is a Desk Officer. Previously she worked as a Desk Officer for climate and development at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and as a Communications Officer at the Swedish Development Forum.

Jens Berggren is on leave of absence from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency where he has worked with climate change adaption related issues since 2001. During 2007 he managed the Water Integrity Network at Transparency International in Berlin. 2004-2006 he was Programme Manager for Water, Anticorruption, Agriculture and Environment at the Embassy in Uganda. 1999-2001 he was a Management Trainee and environmental consultant at Vattenfall. He holds a M.Sc. in Agronomy and a M.Sc in Technology from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Kerstin Åberg is the Secretariat's administrative officer and has worked at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 1996. Previously she worked for the Swedish EU Presidency in 2001 and at the Permanent Representation to the Europen Union in Brussels.

Lloyd Timberlake, the Secretariat's Communications Officer, has written about environment and development for 25 years. He has reported from 60 countries and written articles for most ot the world's major newspapers. He has also written several prize-winning books. He was director of external affairs at the International Institute for Environment and Development from 1985-1994 and has since been a visiting fellow at Imperial College, London, and New York University Law School.