Global Public Policy Institute
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16 March 2006
Achim Steiner, GPPi advisory board member, nominated to head UNEP
On March 15, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan nominated Achim Steiner, a member of GPPi’s advisory board, to serve as the next Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). If confirmed by the General Assembly, Steiner will assume his new position on June 15 succeeding Klaus Töpfer, UNEP’s current Executive Director.
Achim Steiner is currently the Director General of IUCN - The World Conservation Union – the world’s largest environmental network with over 1,000 members including states, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations in 140 countries. Prior to his appointment as head of ICUN in 2001, Steiner was Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams (WCD), one of the most ambitious experiments in global public policy making to date. In a two-year process, the WCD brought together the public sector, civil society, and the private sector to develop guidelines for the construction of large dams, one of the most contested areas of economic and social development.
A German national born in Brazil in 1961, Steiner has also worked at the grassroots level with a community-based organization in India and held advisory positions on sustainable development with NGOs, public sector and international organizations in Pakistan, Germany, USA, and Vietnam. Achim Steiner has been a close friend and supporter of the Global Public Policy Institute from its inception almost three years ago. Achim Steiner has also collaborated with GPPi on a number of projects including the Hertie School executive seminar on global public policy and the SEED Initiative. A GPPi case study on his role as Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams is available as part of the Hertie School of Governance case program.
GPPi Director Wolfgang Reinicke congratulated Achim Steiner on his nomination: "With Achim Steiner a true pioneer of global public policy-making is set to lead UNEP. He is dynamic and forward-looking, bringing a wealth of experience in different areas and at different levels to his new job. It is a very encouraging sign for the rejuvenation and rekindling of international public service that in an open and transparent search process the best candidate was chosen to succeed Klaus Töpfer."