Takehiro Nakamura has been with UN Environment Programme since 1992. He is currently Head of the UNEP International Environmental Technology Centre, which is UNEP’s global centre on environmentally-sustainable waste management. He has been promoting circular economy approaches to address growing waste problems through, inter alia, reduction of waste generation, engagement of production industries, and just transition of waste stakeholders. His expertise also covers sustainable management and use of coastal and marine resources and ecosystem services, sustainable and ecosystem-based management of river/lake basins or groundwater systems, land-based sources of pollution and environmentally sound solid waste and wastewater management. In 2007, he obtained a Ph.D. in Global Environmental Studies from Kyoto University