UNEP mourns loss of former Executive Director Klaus Töpfer
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) joins family and friends in mourning the loss of former UNEP Executive Director, Dr. Klaus Töpfer.
Dr. Töpfer led UNEP from 1998 to 2005 after spearheading environmental policy in Germany as Environment Minister, presiding over a period of UNEP’s history that saw environmental sustainability become front-page news and central to international development goals.
"Dr. Klaus Töpfer was a passionate and strong voice for the environment. He understood the power, fragility, and beauty of nature and why it must be protected. Under his leadership as Executive Director, UNEP delivered important new multilateral environmental agreements, critical action on pollutants and helped secure important progress on climate change. On a personal level, I was deeply touched when Dr. Töpfer reached out to me after my appointment offering his ongoing support and advice,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
"The world has lost a true environment leader and we at UNEP mourn this loss."
Dr. Töpfer’s eight-year tenure saw several important environmental agreements gaveled, including the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which addresses the issue of genetically modified organisms, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Dr. Töpfer was closely involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations in support of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which entered into force in February 2005.
His term at UNEP also saw the establishment of the annual Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which was tasked by the UN General Assembly to review important and emerging environmental issues.
In 2009, Dr. Töpfer was appointed founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany, researching climate issues and sustainable economics. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the German Foundation for World Population. In 2016, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) appointed Töpfer as co-chairman of an Independent Team of Advisors on positioning the UN development system for the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNEP extends deepest condolences to Dr. Töpfer’s family, and to the government and people of Germany on this great loss.
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