Know your Leader: Short Bio of Colombian Ambassador to Kenya H.E Elizabeth Taylor Jay

Short Bio of Colombian Ambassador to Kenya  H.E Elizabeth Taylor Jay

H.E. Ms. Elizabeth Taylor Jay is the Ambassador of Colombia to Kenya and Ambassador of Colombia residing in Nairobi to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.  She is also the Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), where she serves as the Co-Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives for Latin American and the Caribbean, Nairobi Chapter.  Additionally, she is the Permanent Representative of Colombia to UN-Habitat and serves as Colombia’s Permanent Observer to the African Union.

Before her current assignment, she served as the first Director of Marine, Coastal and Aquatic Affairs at the Directorate of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia. In addition to this, for more than eight years she was the Executive Director of the Environmental Authority, CORALINA, of San Andres, Providencia, and the Santa Catalina Archipelago.  During this time, she led the process for the establishment of the largest Marine Protected Area in the Caribbean Sea (Seaflower MPA) and the implementation of the larger UNESCO Seaflower Biosphere Reserve. Because of her dedication, she was granted by UNESCO the Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management in 2012.

Ambassador Taylor has extensive experience in marine and coastal environmental management, sustainable development, small island ecosystems management, ecosystem based adaptation and community participation, and protected areas participatory planning and implementation processes. Ambassador Taylor was born in Old Providence Island, Colombia and holds a degree in marine biology with a master degree in Marine Environmental Protection from the University of Wales in Bangor, U.K.  She is a devoted wife and mother.