Pekka Haavisto

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Pekka Haavisto (b. 23 March 1958 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician representing the Green League. He was re-elected to the Finnish Parliament in the Finnish parliamentary election of March 2007 after an absence of 12 years. He is also a member of the Helsinki City Council.

Haavisto was a member of the Parliament of Finland in 1987-95. He was the chairperson of the Green League from 1993-1995. He served as the Minister of Environment in Paavo Lipponen's first cabinet between 1995 and 1999. He was the first European cabinet minister representing a Green party.

From 1999 to 2005 Haavisto worked in various tasks in the United Nations. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research groups in Kosovo, Afganistan, Iraq, Liberia, Palestine and Sudan. He also coordinated the UN investigation in the effects of depleted uranium in Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Haavisto also represented UNEP in the investigations in the Baia Mare mining accident in Romania. In 2005 he was appointed as the special representative of the European Union in Sudan where he participated in the Darfur peace talks. In 2007 Haavisto was re-elected to the parliament from the electoral district of Helsinki.