Mr. Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator has designated Ms. Reena Ghelani as the Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño / La Niña Response, effective as of 15 January 2024. 

Ms. Ghelani brings to the position more than 25 years of experience in international affairs, including in the fields of humanitarian, development and refugee assistance, as well as human rights. She has served with the United Nations in many countries, including Afghanistan, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territory, Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka. Prior to taking up this position, she served as the United Nations Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator at the Assistant-Secretary-General level and as the Director of Operations and Advocacy for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). She previously worked with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Department of Peace Operations and the Australian Government.