---
title: " After 23 Years of UN Service, Malayali Environmental Expert Dr Murali Thummarukudy to Retire"
english_title: "Dr Murali Thummarukudy to Retire After 23 Years of United Nations Service"
publisher: "Truevision English News"
canonical_url: "https://english.truevisionnews.com/news/380757/dr-murali-thummarukudy-retire-23-years-united-nations-service"
published_at: "2026-09-01T22:58:00+05:30"
category: "Kerala"
language: "en"
image: "https://cf.zdn.im/img/truevisionnews.com/0/image-uploads/6a9967fad810c_dr-murali-thummarukudy-retire-23-years-united-nations-service.jpg"
keywords: ["Dr Murali Thummarukudy", "United Nations", "UN service", "UNCCD", "environmental expert"]
---

#  After 23 Years of UN Service, Malayali Environmental Expert Dr Murali Thummarukudy to Retire

> **Lead Summary:** Kochi: After an illustrious 23-year career with the United Nations, Malayali environmental expert Dr Murali Thummarukudy is set to retire from UN service. He is currently serving as the Director of the G20 Global Initiative to Combat Desertification at the headquarters of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Bonn, Germany.

## Article Content

Kochi: After an illustrious 23-year career with the United Nations, Malayali environmental expert Dr Murali Thummarukudy is set to retire from UN service. He is currently serving as the Director of the G20 Global Initiative to Combat Desertification at the headquarters of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Bonn, Germany.

A native of Vengola near Perumbavoor, Thummarukudy is expected to return to Kerala on the 12th. He is retiring three years before the completion of his remaining service.

Thummarukudy began his professional journey after completing his BTech from Mar Athanasius College of Engineering, Kothamangalam, followed by an MTech and PhD in Environmental Engineering from IIT Kanpur. Between 1995 and 2003, he worked as an environmental consultant for Shell Group companies in Brunei and Oman.

In 2003, he joined the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as Operations Manager in the Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch. Over the course of his UN career, he emerged as an expert in post-crisis environmental management and was involved in humanitarian and environmental missions across several disaster and conflict-affected regions.

His assignments included the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the Sichuan earthquake in China, the Haiti earthquake, the Tohoku tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand. He also undertook UN missions in conflict-affected countries and regions including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Liberia, Sudan and Rwanda.

Thummarukudy was also involved in Kerala’s post-flood reconstruction efforts following the devastating 2018 floods. He represented the United Nations Environment Programme in a study related to the state’s reconstruction and recovery process.

During both the post-flood reconstruction period and the COVID-19 pandemic, Thummarukudy had publicly appreciated several measures taken by the then LDF government in Kerala.

His career with the United Nations has spanned some of the world’s most challenging environmental disasters, humanitarian crises and conflict situations. His work has focused on the intersection of environmental management, disaster response, post-conflict recovery and sustainable development, making him one of the prominent Malayali professionals associated with international environmental and disaster-management initiatives.

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