Achim Steiner - new head at UN Environment Programme
16 Jun '06
3 min read
Achim Steiner
The new head of the United Nations environmental agency assumed office, taking a metaphor from the soccer field to call on all nations to team up together to score a goal for Planet Earth by putting ecology at the heart of economic policies and ending the rivalry between the two.
“For too long economics and environment have seemed like players on rival teams,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner, whose home country, Germany, is currently hosting the World Football Cup.
“There have been a lot of nasty challenges and far too many own goals. We need to make these two sides of the development coin team players, players on the same side,” he added.
Mr. Steiner, 45, former Director-General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which has over 1,000 members that include States, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 140 countries, succeeds fellow-countryman Klaus Toepfer, who stepped down after two four-year terms.
The new UNEP chief has previously served as head of the World Commission on Dams, chief technical advisor of a programme for sustainable management of Mekong River watersheds, and Senior Policy Advisor of IUCN's Global Policy Unit, where he developed partnerships between the environmental community, the World Bank and the UN system.
“We then have a chance to achieve the fundamental shift of values and reach a new understanding of what really makes the world go round,” he said at today's installation ceremony at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
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