Ian Fry, former Special Rapporteur (May 2022 - December 2023)

Mr. Ian Fry was the first Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change. He was appointed by the Human Rights Council at its 49th session in March 2022 and started his mandate on 1 May 2022.

Mr. Fry is an international environmental law and policy expert. His focus has primarily focussed on mitigation policies and loss and damage associated the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol and related instruments.

Mr. Fry worked for the Tuvalu government for over 21 years and was appointed as their Ambassador for Climate Change and Environment 2015-2019.

Mr. Fry has represented the Tuvalu Government at numerous international fora including the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Commission for Sustainable Development, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations General Assembly and UN SIDS conferences.

Mr. Fry teaches part-time at the Fenner School of Environment and Society of the Australian National University. He specialises in International Environmental Policy and Environmental Law.

Mr. Fry is the Pacific Regional Representative to the United Nations for the International Council on Environmental Law, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, a Research Associate at the Centre for Climate Policy and Law (Australian National University Law School), a member of the Australian Association for Pacific Studies, the International Studies Association and the International Association for Small Island Studies.

He has regularly attended meeting of the Friends of Human Rights and Climate Change held in the margins on UNFCCC meetings.

Mr. Fry coordinates the Least Developed Countries on matters relating to carbon markets and is currently on the Bureau of the UNFCCC. He has held the position of Vice-Chair of the Facilitative Branch of the Compliance Committee under the Kyoto Protocol and has co-chaired the Durban Forum on Capacity Building.

Mr. Fry has previously undertaken consultancy work, primarily associated with negotiations training in the context of multilateral environmental agreements. His work focuses on building the capacity of government representatives from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States and ASEAN countries.

He has facilitated negotiations training workshops in the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, Nepal, Samoa, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tuvalu, Vietnam as well as special pre-Conference of Party workshops for LDCs in Canada, Italy, Indonesia, Kenya and Thailand.

In his spare time, Mr. Fry plays canoe polo.