Meet Our Speakers

Joann Lee is a Programme Officer with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat in Bonn, leading stakeholder engagement for the G20 Global Land Initiative. She has over 11 years of combined experience in programme management and law. Prior to joining the UNCCD Secretariat, she was a Programme Analyst with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in New York, working on economic empowerment, climate change, and technology and innovation issues. Her previous experience also includes coordinating advocacy and outreach efforts with the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and investigating environmental compliance matters as an attorney with the California Department of Justice. She earned a Juris Doctorate from Cornell Law School and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and East Asian Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).