Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu EGH is a Kenyan politician, diplomat, and geologist who was appointed by the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, as ambassador to France on the 26th of January 2018.
23 Facts About Judi Wakhungu
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Professor Judi Wakhungu is the daughter of Grace, a manager at Kenya Reinsurance and Consolidated Bank, and the Late Mathew Wakhungu.
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Judi Wakhungu's uncles are former Vice President Moody Awoori and Kenya's first kidney specialist, Professor Nelson Awoori.
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Judi Wakhungu was interested in science from an early age, eventually leading her to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from St Lawrence University in New York in 1983.
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Judi Wakhungu holds a Master of Science degree in petroleum geology from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada, awarded in 1986.
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Judi Wakhungu was the first female petroleum geologist to serve in the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.
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Judi Wakhungu was the first woman faculty member at the Department of Geology in the University of Nairobi.
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Judi Wakhungu held an eleven-year tenure as the executive director of the African Center for Technology Studies, an intergovernamental organization dedicated to environmental research and sustainable innovation in Africa.
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Judi Wakhungu has served as an advisor to the Energy Sector Management Program of the World Bank and the Legatum Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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In 2013, Judi Wakhungu was selected by then-president Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's Cabinet Secretary of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources.
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Judi Wakhungu then initiated an exercise to take inventory of Kenya's national ivory and rhino horn stockpiles, in line with the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act of 2013 and the CITES convention, which requires Kenya, among its other state parties, to progress in their management of ivory.
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Later in her administration, Judi Wakhungu actively supervised an initiative to collect over twenty-four tones of plastic waste around Lake Nakuru National Park, a protected area known for its wide variety of animals and plants.
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Judi Wakhungu's other proposed and executed acts include the Environment Act of 2015, Forestry Act of 2015, the Climate Change and Water Acts of 2016, and the current Waste Management Bill.
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In January 2018, Judi Wakhungu was appointed as ambassador to France, Portugal, Serbia, and the Holy See.
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In June 2023, Judi Wakhungu was recalled from her post alongside other prominent Kenyan politicians in France.
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Judi Wakhungu has penned and contributed to multiple research papers over the years, including a 2008 report for ACTS detailing Kenya's rising conflicts over land tenure and post-election violence.
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Three years later, in 2011, Judi Wakhungu published a conference paper discussing science and technology policy networks in Africa.
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In 2012, Judi Wakhungu contributed to two articles on agriculture and food insecurity alongside biologist and ex-Government Chief Scientific Adviser for the United Kingdom, John Beddington.
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Judi Wakhungu has served on many Kenyan and international boards and committees.
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Judi Wakhungu was the research director of the Global Energy Policy and Planning Program of the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study, which is based in Toronto, Canada.
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Judi Wakhungu is considered a "designated energy expert" for the Gender Working Group of the United Nations Commission of Science and Technology for Development.
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Furthermore, Judi Wakhungu has served as the executive director of the African Technology Policy Studies and as the project leader of the Renewable Energy Technology Dissemination Project of the Stockholm Environment Institute.
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Judi Wakhungu is involved in the board for The International Fund for Animal Welfare as a trustee and director, and is an advocate speaker for the Women in Conservation program within IFAW.