Dear CliC Community – or CliCkers, as we are sometimes called,
As you may know, Vladimir Ryabinin who has been helping to coordinate and push climate related cryosphere and polar activities at WMO and WCRP since 2001, has taken on a new challenge as the Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO… one of the sponsors of WCRP. This post is at the rank of Assistant Director General of UNESCO.
Vladimir has been around since the very beginning of CliC and many of our accomplishments are thanks to his efforts. His perceptive and insightful ideas, ability to navigate sometimes tricky international political waters, warm heart, friendly personality and optimistic attitude have been instrumental to many of us over the years. His sense of humor always helps to make difficult situations a little easier – and we can thank him for the acronym CliC and the term for people in the CliC Community – CliCkers. We rest assured that all of his great qualities will be very appreciated by his new colleagues at IOC.
In a recent message to his colleagues from WMO and WCRP, Vladimir wrote “We have achieved a lot, but of course, even more was desirable to achieve; and all the good things that have happened in a job related to cooperation were due to devoted colleagues and friends. I have had the privilege to work with the best professionals in the domains of climate, weather, and ocean, and an even higher privilege to become friends with so many wonderful people – this is the best type of wealth one can dream of.” I think we are the lucky ones to have worked with him!
From a personal perspective, when I took over the CliC Director position in 2012, the office was vacant for 2 years and thanks to Vladimir’s impeccable institutional memory and constant suggestions for new things that should be done, we were able to begin to re-energize the CliC project. He has been a great support over the years and we will miss working with him on a daily basis through WCRP… but are looking forward to continued collaborations with him and the IOC.
Please join me in wishing Vladimir all the best on his new endeavour,
Jenny