Ricardo Zapata

Retired from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC/CEPAL) after 36 years in service. August 1976 started working for the United Nations as an economist specialist in international trade in ECLAC-CEPAL worked on trade and integration issues in Santiago, Port of Spain and Mexico offices. For the last 15-20 years mainly involved in the economic impact of disasters associated with natural events. Was part of the Intergovernmerntal Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and was lead author of one of the chapters of the Fourth Assessment for which the IPCC received the 2007 Nobel Peace Price. Lead numerous disaster evaluation missions in Latin America and elsewhere (2005 Indonesian tsunami among others) and coordinated the current version of the internationally recognised Disaster Assesment Methodology (DALA) that is standardly used by the World Bank amont others. Upon retiring will be available for specialized consultancies on disasters, international trade and economic inte