Ole Vestergaard works as Programme Officer in the Marine, Coastal & Freshwater Ecosystems Branch of Division for Environmental Policy Implementation at UN Environment, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Since joining UN Environment in April 2008, Ole has been involved in the development and implementation of UN Environment initiatives on marine and coastal ecosystem-based management and adaptation - from tools and technical guidance to training, demonstration and policy advice. He is for example co-author of the UN Environment guide "Taking Steps toward Marine & Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management", launched at the World Ocean Day 2011.
Prior to joining UN Environment, he worked three years at the Danish Institute for Fisheries Research of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Fisheries in his home country, Denmark, coordinating EU policy-oriented research on marine spatial planning and marine resource management. Before that he worked five years at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in Paris, where he developed international research and capacity building projects coupling science to ocean policy and management, for example new indicators for ecosystem assessment and in-country capacity for tropical coastal and marine management.
Ole holds a masters degree in Ecological Sciences from University of Copenhagen, where he wrote his dissertation on freshwater and marine macro-ecological patterns of species distribution and environmental conditions undertaking comprehensive fieldwork and statistical analysis, and subsequently worked two years doing research and teaching.
