Matthias Kern is Senior Programme Officer in the Technical Assistance Branch of the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. He has the lead for identifying and establishing or further strengthening partnerships and international cooperation related to technical assistance that address emerging issues or other stated priorities of the Conferences of the Parties.
He is German national and started his professional career as Research Associate at the Plant Protection Institute in Goettingen, Germany before he joined the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in 1986, where he worked in the field of pesticide and industrial chemicals handling and use, regulation and technical assistance for the implementation of international chemicals conventions. In 2005, he was appointed Senior Programme Officer for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and other hazardous chemicals in the UNEP Division of Global Environment Facility (GEF) Coordination in Nairobi, where he coordinated the UNEP GEF projects related to toxic substances. From 2009 to 2012, he was Head of the Implementation and Capacity Building Unit in the Secretariat of the Basel Convention.
