United Nations Under-Secretary-General - Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi - Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Programme

United Nations Career
Since 1 February 1998 United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Since 9 February 1998 Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)

13 July 1998 to 31 August 2000 Acting Executive-Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)

Political Career

17 November 1994 to 14 January 1998 Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development and Coordinator for the Transfer of the Parliament and Federal Government to Berlin and Compensation for the Bonn Region

May 1994 to May 1995 Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)

26 October 1992 Member of the Presiding Committee of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)

December 1990 to February 1998 Member of the German Bundestag

19 May 1990 to 18 November 1995 State chairman of the CDU in the Saarland

7 May 1987 to November 1994 Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

1987-1989 District chairman of the CDU in Rhine-Hunsrück

23 May 1985 to 06 May 1987 Minister for Environment and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate

1983-1987 Vice-chairman of the Federal Committee on Environmental Questions of the CDU

1978-1985 State Secretary at the Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Environment of Rhineland-Palatinate

1977-1979 District chairman of the CDU in Saarbrücken: member of the State Executive Committee of the CDU in the Saarland

1972 Joined the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)

1971-1978 Head of the Department for Planning and Information in the State Chancellery of the Saarland

Scientific Career

1985-1986 Associate lecturer in Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of Mainz

1978-1979 Full professor at the University of Hanover, Director of the Institute for Regional Research and Development; Member of the Council of Experts for Environmental Questions

1971-1978 Lecturer at the College of Administrative Sciences in Speyer Consultant in the field of development policy in Egypt, Malawi, Brazil and Jordan

1970-1971 Head of the Economics Department of the Central Institute for Regional Planning in Münster

1965-1971 Assistant to Professor Hans-Karl Schneider, Director of Economic Research at the Central Institute for Regional Planning, University of Münster. Also, lecturer at the Economic Academy in Hagen and at the University of Bielefeld

Education

1968 Obtained Doctorate of Philosophy

1964 Graduated from the University of Münster, Diploma in Economics

1959-1960 Military service. Second Lieutenant (Reserve officer)

1959 Abitur (school-leaving certificate) from the König-Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Höxter, Weser

Honours

22 August 1986 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

23 May 1989 Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

3 July 1997 Honorary professor of Tongji University, Shanghai

25 July 1997 Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

21 October 1998 Honorary doctor of Brandenburgische Technical University, Cottbus, Germany

16 June 2000 TÜV Rheinland Pfalz Environment Award