Background
Achim Steiner was born in Brazil in 1961 and holds German as well as Brazilian citizenship.
administrator organization official
Achim Steiner was born in Brazil in 1961 and holds German as well as Brazilian citizenship.
Achim Steiner was born in Brazil in 1961 and holds German as well as Brazilian citizenship. He obtained a Bachelor from the University of Oxford and an Master of Arts from the University of London, specializing in development economics, regional planning, international development and environment policy. He also studied at the German Development Institute in Berlin and the Harvard Business School.
He is Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Before joining, he was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and before that Secretary General of the World Commission on Dams. Steiner started his career in 1989 at the Rural Regional Development Department, Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit in Germany. He was Chief Technical Adviser of the Mekong River Commission (1997-1998) before becoming Secretary-General of the World Commission on Dams.
In 2001 he returned to International Union for Conservation of Nature as Director-General.
The United Nations General Assembly in 2006 elected Steiner Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme for a four-year term. His mandate so far has been extended twice and will end in June 2016.
The Secretary-General appointed Steiner as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), where he served from March 2009 to May 2011. Within the United Nations system Steiner also chairs the High-level Committee on Programmes of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the United Nations Environment Management Group.
He serves on a number of international advisory boards, including the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).
2010 Leadership Award for Principled Pragmatism - Tällberg Foundation.