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Entrepreneur and climate diplomat Maurice Strong received the Freedom from Want Award in 2010. He led two major UN conferences on the environment, putting climate change on the international agenda. Strong founded the United Nations (UN) environmental programme UNEP.
More about Strong
Maurice Strong was born in 1929 in Canada. He started out as an entrepreneur, but soon became involved in the United Nations. In the early 1970s, Strong was secretary-general of the UN Conference on the Human Environment. He commissioned a report on the state of the planet in 1971: ‘Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet’. The report summarised the discoveries of 152 key experts from 58 countries. This report prepared the ground for the first UN meeting on environment in 1972. Through Strong's leadership, environmental protection became a major issue. The conference led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Program, of which Strong became the first leader. Leaders of developing countries expressed their support for it. In addition, Strong secured improvements to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He died in Canada in 2015.
Positions and publications
- Chairman and managing director World Economic Forum
- Adviser to the United Nations Summit and the World Bank
- Secretary-General of UN conferences on the human environment
- Chairman Canada Development Investment Corporation
- Commissioner of the World Commission on Environment and Development
- Headed the American Water Development Incorporated
- Was actively involved in China where he advised the government and companies on sustainable production
- Chairman of the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia
He wrote the following report:
- Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet.
Other laureates from 2010
European court of human rights
Novaya Gazeta
Asma Jahangir
