UN Announces Annan's Candidates for New Environment Chief

Environmental leaders from Northern Europe, Central America and South Asia are on short list of candidates to head the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as selected by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and announced today in advance of the 1 April 2006 end of the long-running tenure of Klaus Toepfer.

Candidates include Borge Brende, the former environmental minister of Norway; Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi, the Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica; Shafqat Kakakhel of Pakistan, the Deputy Executive Director of UNEP; Rajendra Pachauri of India, the Director-General of the Energy and Resource Institute; and Achim Steiner of German, the Director-General of the World Conservation Union.

Mr. Toepfer’s tenure, which began in February 1998, saw the Programme restructured into five priority areas: environmental assessment and early warning, development of policy instruments, enhanced coordination with environmental conventions, technology transfer and support to Africa, according to the Office of the Secretary-General. Mr. Annan’s office said that Mr. Toepfer, who had previously been Germany’s environmental minister, has also been instrumental in integrating environmental concerns and economic development.