Annan Chooses Candidates for New UN Environment Chief

NEW YORK, New York, March 6, 2006 (ENS) - As of April 1, Klaus Toepfer will step down as head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as his second four year term comes to a close.

Toepfer restructured UNEP into five priority areas - environmental assessment and early warning, development of policy instruments, enhanced coordination with environmental conventions, technology transfer, and support to Africa, said the Office of the Secretary-General.

He has helped steer the Kyoto Protocol through its birth pains and is known for the Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment Office he established to help clean up after wars such as that in the Balkans.

Toepfer, a former German environment minister, has held the top UN environmental post since February 1998. He will be replaced by one of five men chosen by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In the interview and evaluation of the candidates, Annan said he and his senior advisers will be guided by criteria that include strong diplomatic, political and fundraising skills; strategic vision and strong leadership; strong international profile in the environment field and thorough knowledge of environment and development issues.

The next UNEP chief must have proven skills in the management of complex organizations; the flexibility and vision to participate in an evolving international environmental architecture; and good knowledge of the UN system and a commitment to the pursuit of reform.

Fluency in English is required. French is highly desirable. Knowledge of another of the UN's six official languages is an asset.

The views of the environmental community on the candidates will be sought informally, the Secretary-General's Office said.

The candidates will then be interviewed by a panel of senior UN officials, including an outside expert, who will refer the finalists to Secretary-General Annan Annan anddeputy secretary-general for final interview.

Annan will then forward the name of his recommended candidate to the United Nations General Assembly for its approval.

The UN made the secretary-general's short list public last week.

Candidates include:

• Borge Brende, Member of Norwegian Parliament

  Norway's minister of the environment 2001-2004 and minister of trade and industry 2004-2005, Brende is now a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party.

  Brende served as chairman of the 12th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2004. During his tenure, he told a UN television interviewer, "What I feel is an immense responsibility to be a watchdog on the targets on water and sanitation and slum dwellers."

  He said the world is slipping behind a UN goal of supplying fresh water by 2015 to more than a half-billion people in developing nations who do not have it.

  "Seventy percent of those who are sick in India are ill because of water-related illnesses," Brende said. "In Africa one of the main reasons why girls do not go to school is that they spend half their day fetching water and the other half looking for firewood. So there's no time for education."

• Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi, the Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica

  Under his leadership the Costa Rican government has banned oil drilling, mining and deforestation, and Rodriguez says the wilderness has given them so much more income that they have instituted a biodiversity tax incentive.

  The a major challenge to Costa Rica’s National Environment Strategy, he says, is the issue of land planning, and the implementation of land planning policies based on the wise and sustainable use of natural resources.

  In San Jose, Costa Rica in September 2005, Rodriguez told the 2nd International Expert Meeting on a 10-Year Framework of Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production that sustainable development cannot be achieved if individuals, nations, and the global community continue to use goods and services as they have for the last decade.

• Shafqat Kakakhel of Pakistan, the Deputy Executive Director of UNEP

  In his post as UNEP second in command, he is charged with providing advice and assistance in relation to substantive matters, strategic planning, and the day-to-day management of UNEP. His specific responsibilities include supervising all divisions and regional offices and overseeing all internal program co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. He plays a key role in maintaining UNEP's relations with governments.

  Immediately after the October 8, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Kakakhel warned that, "Mismanagement [of waste and natural resources] could have severe livelihood, human health and other environmental impacts, not only in the directly affected areas, but also in the lower catchments."

  Kakakhel served with the Foreign Service of his country for over 28 years. In addition to undertaking various assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, he also completed postings in Beirut, Cairo, Bonn, Jeddah, New Delhi and Nairobi.

• Rajendra Pachauri of India, the Director-General of the Energy and Resource Institute

  An expert in industrial engineering and economics, in 2002 Dr. Pachauri was elected as chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme, a position he still holds. His task is to oversee the fourth assessment of climate change in 2007.

  Dr. Pachauri has served as a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons on Power for India's Ministry of Power, a member of the National Environmental Council, and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He has taught at the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and is the author of 21 books and numerous scientific articles.

  Shortly after taking up the position as IPCC chair, Dr. Pachauri said, "Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate world poverty and could make millions of people more open to extremism."

  Dr. Pachauri expressed concern about the dangers of Himalayan glaciers receding and the sea level rising as a result of global warming, which would drown many islands and low-lying coastal areas.

• Achim Steiner of Germany, Director-General of the IUCN-World Conservation Union

  A specialist in economics and policy, Steiner was born in Brazil in 1961 where he lived for 10 years. His educational background includes a BA at the University of Oxford as well as a MA at the University of London. He also studied at the German Development Institute in Berlin as well as the Harvard Business School.

  Now head of the world's largest conservation organization, Steiner said at the 2005 meeting of the UN Sustainable Development Commission, that it is "vital" for wealthy countries to increase overseas development aid. He emphasized that more investment in ecosystems is needed to maintain the goods and services they provide.

  Steiner has worked at the grassroots level and at the highest levels of international policymaking to address the interface between environmental sustainability, social equity and economic development.

  At the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, called Rio+10, referring to the Rio Earth Summit, Steiner said, "What has also happened since Rio is that you have NGOs, community groups, local authorities, businesses, beginning to develop literally hundreds of thousands of initiatives across the world, and that to me is the real story of Johannesburg: that there are people out there who are proving that sustainable development is a doable concept, and they are realizing it often in completely new forms of partnership."

The Secretary-General's Office said that given the similarities between the UNEP and UNFCCC positions, and the eligibility of some of the candidates for both, the secretary-general might conclude that one of the candidates interviewed for UNEP is more suitable for UNFCCC or vice versa and, therefore, in the former case, make the appointment to that post in consultation with the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC.