The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong,its first director,after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. Its mandate is to provide leadership,deliver science and develop solutions on a wide range of issues,including climate change,the management of marine and terrestrial ecosystems,and green economic development. The organization also develops international environmental agreements;publishes and promotes environmental science and helps national governments achieve environmental targets.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948,IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. It is involved in data gathering and analysis,research,field projects,advocacy,and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence,encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable".
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician and former United Nations official,who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Børge Brende is a Norwegian politician and diplomat,and has been the president of the World Economic Forum since 2017. A member of the Conservative Party,he previously was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017,Minister of the Environment from 2001 to 2004 and Minister of Trade and Industry from 2004 to 2005. He was also a member of the Norwegian Parliament from Sør-Trøndelag between 1997 and 2009.
Alicia Isabel Adriana Bárcena Ibarra is a Mexican biologist and the current Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico. She was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2023 to 2024 and previously served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) from July 2008 to March 2022.
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is a United Nations agency dedicated to implementing humanitarian and development projects for the United Nations System,international financial institutions,governments and other partners around the world,with a focus on infrastructure,procurement and project management The organization's global headquarters is located at the UN City campus in Copenhagen,Denmark. UNOPS delivers around $3 billion worth of development projects for its partners every year. Its activities have ranged from managing the construction of schools in Afghanistan,to building shelters in Haiti,to procuring ambulances to support the Ebola response in Liberia.
Achim Steiner is a Brazilian-German environmentalist who currently serves as the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and vice-chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Group.
Ismail Serageldin,Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA),the new Library of Alexandria,inaugurated in 2002,is currently,Emeritus Librarian,and member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria. He serves as Chair or Member of a number of advisory committees for academic,research,scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts,and serves on the Advisory Committee of the World Social Science Report for 2013 and 2016,as well as the UNESCO-supported World Water Scenarios (2013) and the executive council of the Encyclopedia of Life (2010) and Chairs the Executive Council of the World Digital Library (2010). He also co-chaired the African Union's high level panel for Biotechnology (2006) and again for Science,Technology and Innovation (STI) in 2012–2013,and was a member of the ICANN Panel for the review of the internet future (2013).
Julia Marton-Lefèvre is a French - US environmentalist and academic. She studied history,ecology and environmental planning in the US and in France,and was born in Hungary.
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is an Ecuadorian linguist,poet,politician,and diplomat. Currently,is Executive Director of GWL Voices,an NGO dedicated to achieve a gender-equal multilateral system. She served as an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples (1999-2005) and was the regional director for South America (2005-2007) at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Espinosa Garcés was Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs twice,from 2007 to 2008 and then from 2017 to 2018. She also served as ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York (2008-2009) and Geneva (2014-2017),and as Ecuador's Minister of National Defense (2012-2014). In June 2018,she was elected President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session by a two-thirds vote of the member states. Espinosa Garcés became the fourth woman in the seventy-three-year history of the United Nations to be elected President of the General Assembly. Besides her political career,she is also a poet and essayist.
Susan Davis is an author,public speaker,consultant and expert on international development and social entrepreneurship. She is the Chairperson of Solutions Journalism Network,an Adjunct Associate Professor at New York University Stern School of Business,a coach to social entrepreneurs and active on many boards and advisory councils.
Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis is a Costa Rican economist who has been serving as Secretary-General of the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) since 13 September 2021.
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen is a Costa Rican diplomat who has led national,international and multilateral policy negotiations. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in July 2010,six months after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. During the next six years she worked to rebuild the global climate change negotiating process,leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement,widely recognized as a historic achievement.
Amina Jane Mohammed is a Nigerian-British diplomat and politician who is serving as the 5th Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously,she was Nigerian Minister of Environment from 2015 to 2016 and was a player in the Post-2015 Development Agenda process. She is also Chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Group.
Tan Sri Zakri bin Abdul Hamid has had a distinguished career in science as a researcher,educator,administrator and diplomat.
Marion Guillou is a French scientist specialized in global food security.
Fatima Denton is a British-Gambian climatologist. She is the director at the Ghanaian branch of the United Nations University,at the UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) in Accra. She focuses on innovation,science,technology and natural resource management. She partners with countries such as Benin and Liberia to develop and implement country needs assessment missions.
Peter Bakker is a Dutch businessman who currently serves as president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Damilola Ogunbiyi is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on SDG7,which calls for access to reliable,affordable,sustainable,and modern energy for all by 2030. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All,the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All,and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.
Joachim von Braun is a German agricultural scientist and currently director of a department of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn and President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
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