Achim Steiner

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Achim Steiner (born 1961 in Brazil) is a German expert in environmental politics. From 2001 to 2006 he was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Since June 2006 he is Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Steiner grew up in Brazil. He studied philosophy, political science and economics at the University of Oxford. He received a Master degree in Economics and regional planing from the University of London. He also was a visiting scientist at German Institute for Development Politics in Berlin and at Harvard Business School. After leaving university Steiner worked for several local environmental organisations before he worked for IUCN in Washington, D.C. and Asia. In 1998 he became general secretary of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in Cape Town. In 2001 he returned to IUCN as Director General.

Steiner was nominated by UN general secretary Kofi Annan as new UNEP Director in March 2006. In this office he succeeded Klaus Töpfer.

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of 1 June 2006.