Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, former Under Secretary General United Nations, former Director General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Until March 2006, Professor Töpfer was UN Under-
Secretary-General, Executive Director of the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP) and Director
General of the UN Office at Nairobi (UNON). From
1998 until 2000 he served as Acting Executive
Director of the UN Centre for Human Settlements
(Habitat). Before starting his career at the UN,
Professor Töpfer held two offices as Federal Minister
in Germany. From 1994 to 1995 he concurrently
was Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD). Professor Töpfer was a
member of the German Bundestag from 1990 until
1998 and received the Grand Cross of the Order of
Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1997.
He is an honorary doctor of many national and
international universities, Cottbus, and an honorary
professor of Tongji University, Shanghai, PRC,
where he still lectures today.