Mostafa Kamal Tolba

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Dr. Mostafa Kamal Tolba (1922-), world renowned scientist and for 17 years Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), has been an eloquent and tireless defender of the environment for most of his life.

Born in Egypt, a country whose economy depends on the waters of a river that flows through other states, made him aware of the link between environment and politics. He has always believed that common environmental interests should override political differences, even conflicts between nations. Dr. Mostafa Tolba was born in the town of Zifta, north of Cairo in 1922. He graduated with first class honours from Cairo University in 1943, and obtained his Ph.D. from the Imperial College, in 1948. He returned to Cairo to eventually become Professor in the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, where he established his own school in microbiology and is currently Emeritus Professor. He was also Professor in Baghdad University, 1954-1959. After this distinguished academic career, Dr Tolba joined the Egyptian civil service as Undersecretary of State for Higher Education and Minister of Youth, and on the international scene, as an alternate member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO's) Executive Board. He became the first president of the newly established Academy for Scientific Research and Technology in 1971. As early as the mid-1970s, he concentrated on the issue of stratospheric ozone layer depletion as meriting careful monitoring on the scientific front. In 1972, he led his country's delegation to the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment which gave rise to UNEP. Immediately after Stockholm he was nominated as Deputy Executive Director of the newly established United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Within 2 years, he became the Executive Director - a post he held until retiring at the end of 1992.

In Vienna (1985), Montreal (1987) and later in London (1990), he managed to formulate the prototype model for dealing with global environmental issues and the effective mechanisms for the transfer of technology and funds to developing countries, as and when necessary, through the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol. It is to his leadership that much of the credit for directing the environment to the forefront of global thinking and action is due. He applied his belief that environmental decisions are inseparable from socio-political decisions in all his consultations with political leaders. His negotiating skills and scientific knowledge contributed to UNEP's most widely acclaimed success - the historic 1988 agreement to protect the ozone layer - the Montreal Protocol. The Protocol is recognized as setting a precedent for international preventive rather than corrective environmental action. At the Earth Summit in Brazil, he was at the helm of the negotiations when the Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity were signed. He also successfully worked for treaties to protect the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. During the Iran-Iraq conflict he often had the warring parties at the same negotiating table discussing common environmental interests.

Under his leadership, UNEP became the small core organization within the UN family, acting as the catalyst spurring governments, businesses, academia, IGOs and NGOs, to meaningful action. UNEP, one of the smallest members in the UN family, could leverage on average four times its modest budget to carry out more than a thousand projects. Pursuing his position during Stockholm, he diligently promoted his philosophy of "Development without Destruction". It implications are clearly reflected in his speeches, books and in UNEP's programmes, in many fields, and at many levels.

Dr. Tolba has published over 95 papers on plant diseases, also more than 600 statements and articles on the environment. He has received many awards and prizes, both from academic institutions, governments and NGOs in many countries. These include honorary doctorates, awards, medals, and high decorations. He cherishes in particular the D.Sc. degrees from Moscow State University, and the University of Guadalajara; DLL, Williams College; fellowship of Imperial College, London; the Sasakawa Prize; the Only One Earth Award of the René Dubos Center; the Global Environmental Award (IAIA) in 2003; the Zayed International prize (2003); Global Environment Leadership Award (GEF) in 2003; the Distinguished International Service Award of the Regents of the University of Minnesota; high decorations from Hungary, Jordan, Morocco, Poland, Spain, USA, Yugoslavia, and the First Order Decoration of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Back in Egypt, Dr. Tolba established in 1994 the International Center for Environment and Development (ICED), a non profit organization, financing environmental projects in less developed countries through an endowment fund administered by an independent board of trustees. He is the president of ECOPAST - Centre for Environment and Our Common Past, Washington, D.C.; dealing with the impact of the air pollution on cultural heritage. He is also chairman of the Egyptian Consultants for Environment and Development (ECED). He is also member of many academies, institutes, committees and other organizations.