About
Us
Kelly
Rigg
Varda Group Director
Kelly Rigg, a founding director of the Varda Group, is specialised in managing large international campaigns and projects, including the development of campaign and communication strategies. She is also the business manager for the Varda Group.
As the Coordinator of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an alliance of more than 60 NGOs worldwide, she has been leading a multi-year campaign to achieve a UN General Assembly moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. In 2001, she led Greenpeace International’s campaign in the run up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a focus on climate change and renewable energy. She also led Greenpeace’s successful campaign to save Antarctica from 1986 – 1990, with responsibility not only for the political campaign but also for the organisation's World Park Base on Ross Island, Antarctica, and its annual Southern Ocean expedition. She has developed campaign or communication strategies for numerous projects and organisations including the Shark Alliance, WWF’s bluefin tuna campaign, Oceana, the campaign for a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Green Cross International, IUCN, and many others.
Kelly began campaigning for the environment in 1982, working for Greenpeace in the United States against offshore oil drilling in the days when the Reagan Administration had planned to open virtually the entire US continental shelf to oil development. In 1984 she became the organisation's wildlife campaign director, managing projects on whales, seals, sea turtles, Antarctica and offshore oil drilling. During this time she represented Greenpeace International at the United Nations debates on Antarctica for four years. She served on the State Department Advisory panel on Antarctica, and on the Board of the Washington-based Coast Alliance. She later served on the Board of Directors of Greenpeace USA, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, and the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC).
She has produced countless publications, including for example a Coastal Code of Conduct on behalf of the EUCC in 1997, which was adopted by the Council of Europe under the auspices of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy. She was the lead author of a study on behalf of Oceana titled “Halting IUU Fishing – Enforcing International Fisheries Agreements” which was published by the OECD as part of a workshop on IUU fishing.
In addition to hands-on campaigning, Kelly has served in a variety of senior campaign management positions, including director of the Greenpeace Atmosphere and Energy Campaign, and the Deputy Campaigns Director of Greenpeace International. She has had oversight and budget responsibility for international campaigns on oceans, toxic chemicals, the ozone layer, forests and the Amazon. She has facilitated dozens of international meetings and conducted numerous project evaluations.
“We have a long track record of successful campaigning”, says Kelly, “with the help of The Varda Group, our partners and clients do not need to re-invent the wheel.” |
