ECI Council The ECI Council oversees the work of the Earth Charter International Secretariat. It sets major goals, policies, and strategies for ECI, and provides guidance and leadership to the broader Initiative. The ECI Council is not a legally incorporated entity. The Council elects its own members in consultation with members of the global network of Earth Charter supporters.

Honorary Co-Chairs

• Ruud Lubbers (The Netherlands)
• Erna Witoelar (Indonesia)

Council Co-Chairs

• Brendan Mackey (Australia)
• Razeena Omar (South Africa)
• Alide Roerink (The Netherlands)

Council Members

• Zainab Bangura (Sierra Leone)
• Mateo Castillo (Mexico)
• Rick Clugston (USA)
• Marianella Curi (Bolivia)
• Camila Argolo Godinho (Brazil)
• Wakako Hironaka (Japan)
• Barbro Holmberg (Sweden)
• Li Lailai (Peoples Republic of China)
• Song Li (People’s Republic of China / USA)
• Alexander Likhotal, (Russia / Switzerland)
• Oscar Motomura (Brazil)
• Dumisani Nyoni (Zimbabwe)
• Steven Rockefeller (United States)
• Mohamed Sahnoun (Algeria)
• Kartikeya Sarabhai (India)
• Tommy Short* (USA)
• Mary Evelyn Tucker (USA)
• Mirian Vilela (Brazil)

Brendan Mackey (Australia), Co-Chair

Brendan Mackey has a PhD in tropical forest ecology, and is a professor of environmental science at The Australian National University, Canberra. Brendan’s research and teaching is in the areas of global environmental change and biodiversity conservation, including the challenge of conservation planning in extensive intact country where indigenous interests are paramount. He co-chairs the IUCN Ethics Specialist Group within the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law. Brendan has a long-standing commitment to the Earth Charter Initiative. He served on the drafting committee, and participated in numerous regional consultations, including an Australian national forum he convened. Prof. Mackey also served as chair of the Earth Charter education advisory committee during the initiative’s second phase. Brendan has written extensively on themes related to environmental science, conservation, and the Earth Charter, in particular, on the significance of ecological integrity to world ethics for sustainability.

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Razeena Omar is a South African citizen who takes a keen interest in monitoring trends, shifts and debates on environment, conservation and education, including policies and implementation issues, and has been a central player in these fields for a number of years. She holds academic and professional qualifications in the areas of botany, zoology, ecology, conservation and education. Subsequent to working in the area of formal education, she joined the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA) and was thereafter appointed as environmental adviser to the previous National Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal for four years (1999-2003). Her work in the Ministry of Education included establishing the National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP), which resulted in the environment being recognised as a key issue in all education and training programmes in South Africa. Dr. Omar has also contributed to the professional rigour of environment work through conducting a number of evaluations, including the US-funded Windows on the Wild Programme, and a number of Community-based Conservation and Environmental Education projects. She has presented numerous papers and workshops at provincial, national and international levels, and has produced a number of publications, which have made a significant contribution to the field of the environment.

She has visited and participated in courses in a number of international institutions in Africa, Australia, the USA, the Republic of the Maldives, Denmark, and the UK, amongst others. She has also provided advice and guidance to international organisations such as UNESCO. She has served on a number of decision-making boards and advisory structures and committees to contribute towards managing the environment sustainably. Dr. Omar was the executive director for People and Conservation at South African National Parks (SANParks) and, since June 2008, she has been chief director of integrated coastal management and development for the department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism; Marine and Coastal Management.

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Alide Roerink (The Netherlands), Co-Chair

Alide Roerink is an anthropologist and has been involved over the years in networking, advocacy, and policy development for gender justice, international solidarity, and global governance. Alide Roerink was coordinator of Vrouwenberaad Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, a network of gender experts in development agencies in The Netherlands. Since 2000 she has been working with the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO) in the capacity of advisor international relations, and is a member of the NCDO management team. Alide coordinates the NCDO Earth Charter programme and the Round Table of Worldconnectors for People and the Planet (www.worldconnectors.nl). Alide Roerink is board member of the Alliance for the University for Peace, NVVN (United Nations Associations Netherlands) and SIGN (Schoolfeeding Initiative Ghana Netherlands). NCDO is Affiliated to the Earth Charter Initiative and cooperated with the Earth Charter Initiative in the launch of the Earth Charter in 2000 in the Peace Palace in The Hague and in the Earth Charter+5 event in 2005 in Amsterdam. Alide Roerink initiated and co-edited the book Earth Charter in Action: Towards a Sustainable World. Alide Roerink was advisor to the Earth Charter Initiative before she joined the Council.

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Zainab Bangura (Sierra Leone)

Zainab Bangura is the current foreign minister of Sierra Leone. Previously, she was chief of the Civil Affairs Office for the United Nations Mission in Liberia, a position to which she was named in 2006. Zainab began her career as a professional in the field of insurance. She was led into civil society work in response to war in her region in the early 1990s. In 1995 she founded the Women Organized for a Morally Enlightened Nation (W.O.M.E.N) at a time when the military, through the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) governed the country. W.O.M.E.N was the first non-partisan women's political rights organization in the country and played a vital role in the campaign against the military junta. Zainab mobilized thousands of women to confront armed soldiers in pro-democracy street protests.

In 1996 Zainab launched The Campaign for Good Governance (CGG). As coordinator of the largest local NGO in Sierra Leone, Zainab led the organisation in promoting democratic participation, new civil society organisations, human rights, the rule of law, and the political and economic empowerment of women. CGG's work earned international recognition and Zainab herself was honoured with the 2000 Human Rights Award of the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Zainab Bangura left CGG to establish the Movement for Progress Party (MOP) in January 2002. The party organised a diverse core team of founding members from the local professional class, academia, and grassroots organisations. Zainab was nominated as the party's presidential candidate and thus the only female candidate. More recently, Zainab has worked as a consultant for the UN High Commission for Refugees and the Open Society Initiative.

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Mateo A. Castillo Ceja is the head of the Coordinating Unity of Social Participation and Transparency in the Ministry of Environment of Mexico. Previously he served as president of the Ecological State Council of Michoacan, Mexico, and, with many others, has instigated processes of social participation in the development of environmental public policies for a sustainable Mexico. He is an altruistic person who takes part in the world humanitarian movement. He is considered a national expert in the implementation of local Agenda 21. He has been a representative of civil society in Mexico in many forums and international summits. Castillo is the main developer in Mexico of the Earth Charter and the founder of the National Secretariat. He was awarded the Citizen Merit Prize in 2003, and in 2004 he received honorary mention in the National Prize for Ecological Merit. In 2005, he was awarded the Maximo Kalaw Award for his work in promoting the Earth Charter in Mexico. Mr. Castillo holds a Master’s degree in quality and competitiveness and is a biochemist in the area of pharmacology.

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Rick Clugston is Project Coordinator for the Earth Charter Scholarship Project at the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is also the Executive Director of Earth Charter US, and Earth Charter Coordinator for the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University.

From 1991-2008, Rick was Executive Director of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment in Washington D.C.  There he directed a variety of initiatives, including the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (1997-2007); the Sustainable Universities Assessment and Evaluation Project (1996-2005); Theological Education to Meet the Environmental Challenge (1992-1999); Earth Charter USA (1996-2006);and the Soul of Agriculture Project (1994-2001).

Dr. Clugston participated in the Earth Charter drafting committee meetings and served on the Earth Charter International Steering Committee where he chaired the fundraising committee. He now serves on the Earth Charter International Council, and the boards of the Wolfe’s Neck Farm Foundation (Maine, USA) and the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education (Florida, USA). Dr. Clugston is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development (Sage Publications). He was a cofounder of the Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership.

Prior to coming to Washington, Dr. Clugston worked for the University of Minnesota for 11 years, first as a faculty member and later as a strategic planner. He received his doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Minnesota and his masters in Human Development from the University of Chicago.

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Marienella Curi is a social psychologist experienced in the design of policies for sustainable development and of environmental education for sustainable development. Previously she was vice-minister for natural resources and environment, and undersecretary for the promotion of sustainable development in the government of Bolivia. She was director of the Bolivian Environmental Defence League, the most extensive network of non-governmental environmental organizations in that country. In 2004, she began working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in the position of policy specialist on the BOLFOR II Project, and she represents TNC in Bolivia. She is currently the director of the BOLFOR II Project, which is the largest sustainable forestry management in Bolivia, with financial support from USAID and The Nature Conservancy.

Ms. Curi initiated the creation of the Bolivian Council on Sustainable Development, and was engaged in the process of developing, validating, and promoting the Earth Charter in Bolivia for several years.

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Camila Argôlo Godinho is a young Brazilian environmentalist. She received her undergraduate degree in international business and has a post-graduate degree in environmental education. Camila has been working locally, nationally, and internationally with youth and environment since 1999.

As a researcher and youth leader, she coordinated the GEO for Youth Brazil Project, developed in partnership with the NGO Interagir, the Latin American and Caribbean Office of UNEP, the ministers of environment and education of Brazil and the National Youth Secretariat. Since 2002, she has taken part in several international conferences, networks and training programmes, including the UNEP TUNZA Youth Council (2003-2005) and Commission of Sustainable Development Youth Caucus and Education Caucus.

In 2002 she received the Petrobras/Universidade Solidaria Merit Award for an environmental education project that she developed in the community of Mussurunga, a slum in Salvador, Brazil. She has been a member of the Earth Charter Youth Initiative since 2002, and from 2005 to 2007 a member of its Core Group. Camila founded and coordinates an Earth Charter Youth Group in Brazil, now incorporated into the Diversity Institute, where she promotes the Earth Charter among youth and community leaders in poor communities.

Camila currently coordinates projects related to community development in the Diversity Institute. She is also the coordinator of the department of corporate responsibility of the Jorge Amado University and is part of the Expert Team A of the Forest Stewadership Council Plantations Review on “Raising the Bar on Corporate Responsibility”.

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Wakako Hironaka is a member of Japan's House of Councilors, elected from Chiba Prefecture in July 2004, and is currently serving her fourth term. She is currently serving as chair of the Research Committee on Economy, Industry and Employment, and as a member of the Committee on Education, Culture and Science in the House of Councilors. She is vice-president of the Democratic Party of Japan. In 1993-94, she was state minister, director-general of Environment Agency in the Hosokawa Cabinet. Ms. Hironaka is also active internationally, as a member of the Earth Charter Commission, GLOBE, and GEA.

Ms. Hironaka received a B.A. in English from Ochanomizu Women's University and an M.A. in Anthropology from Brandeis University. She has written several books, essays, translations, and critiques on education, culture, society, and women's issues, including Between Two Cultures: Woman - Her Work and Family (1979), Politics is Unexpectedly Interesting (1989), and translations of Ezra Vogel's Japan as Number One and Haru Reischauer's Samurai & Silk (Kinu to Bushi).

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Barbro Holmberg is a recognized Swedish Social Democratic politician. She has served for many years the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1999, she became a political adviser and got involved with the Ministry’s Children Project as a project leader. In 2002, she was appointed as the state secretary for that ministry, and during the period of 2003 to 2006, she served as the minister for asylum and migration. In addition to her involvement with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, she also served as the secretary of the Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and secretary of the Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She is the author of several books. The latter one deals with issues of women’s rights. Ms. Holmberg has also been the editor of two magazines: Social Politics Magazine and Psychology Magazine, a publication for Swedish psychologists. Currently, Ms. Holmberg works as deputy member of the Board of the Swedish Riksbank (National Bank) and as a county governor in Sweden.

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Lailai Li received her bachelor's degree in English, and a master's and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. Prior to her appointment as associate director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, Li Lailai served as the national programme director of LEAD-China. Previous to that she worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology and Anthropology at Pekin University, where her research was focused on the interactions between Chinese traditional values, agricultural activities, and environmental impacts. She also served as director of information resources at LEAD International (part time) from 1997 to 2001. She participated in the development of LEAD's information strategy, thereby fulfilling her interest in exploring the role of information and information technology in the human endeavor toward the greater sustainability of society. Her research experiences lie in NGO development and exploration of alternative development paths toward global sustainability.

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Song Li is a consultant to the World Bank. Her main responsibilities include managing the environmental projects portfolio in the African region, with particular focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate change adaptation, land degradation, and biosafety. She is part of the team to advise on project preparation and results monitoring use of different World Bank and GEF financial instruments.

From 1996 to 2004, Song Li served as senior environment specialist with the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Her major tasks included managing capacity building projects for countries to implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, and Desertification Convention and responsible for policy and institutional issues, including technical assistance to governments to improve their coordination with local communities, the private sector, and NGOs. She was the GEF focal point for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Previously, Song Li served as Senior Programme Officer for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), UNEP, responsible for the financial mechanism and funding policy and programme priorities; and as director for the division of environmental law, Treaty and Law Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China. She represented China at negotiations for global environmental conventions and at the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.

Song Li holds an L.LM with a focus on Environmental Law from George Washington University, a Certificate in public international law from the Institute of Diplomacy of China, and a Masters in French literature from University Paris III.

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Alexander Likhotal is currently president of Green Cross International. He received his Ph.D in Political Science in 1972 from the Institute of International Affairs in Moscow, the subject of his thesis being ”The Shaping of the British Security Policy”. He started his academic career as a lecturer at the Moscow State Institute of International Affairs, where he became senior research fellow at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the USSR. In 1988 he became professor of political science and international relations at the Diplomatic Academy, and in the same year was appointed vice-rector.

During the wake of Gorbachev’s perestroika, being already a well known expert in the field of European security, he received a proposal to become the chief analyst of NATO politics in the International Department of the Central Committee of the CSPU - one of the Soviet foreign policy co-ordination bodies. In 1991 Alexander Likhotal was appointed deputy spokesman and adviser to the president of the USSR. Since then he has been an advisor to Mr Gorbachev, founder of Green Cross, for many years.

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Ruud Lubbers (The Netherlands), Honorary Co-Chair

Ruud Lubbers was UN High Commissioner for Refugees; former Prime Minister of The Netherlands, (1982-1994); professor of Globalization at GLOBUS (Institute for Globalization and Sustainable Development), Tilburg University; chair, Clingendael, Dutch Institute for International Relations; chair, Scientifi c Institute of the political party Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA); chair, Social Council of the Tinbergen Institute; former minister for economic affairs (1973-1977) in The Netherlands; former president of World Wildlife Fund (1999-2001).

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Oscar Motomura is the founder and chief executive officer of the Amana-Key Group, a center for excellence in management, a network of associates with global reach, based in São Paulo, Brazil. The purpose of Amana-Key is to serve as a world reference for radical innovation in management that is capable of generating the genuine development of people, organizations, communities, and the greater whole. The Amana-Key Group has adopted the Earth Charter as a reference for its education programmes and innovation retreats. Thousands of leaders from corporations and the government take Amana-Key programmes every year, where their awareness of global issues affecting humanity is expanded along with their understanding of the importance of contributing to our collective evolution, through ethical and conscious management practices. Mr. Motomura started his career in Brazil in a large, multinational financial institution, where he reached a senior management position at the age of 26. He founded his own company at 28, which was the starting point for what is now Amana-Key. Motomura is known in Brazil as one the most creative specialists in the area of strategy. He holds degrees in business administration and social psychology.

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Dumisani (also "Dumi") Nyoni is a graduate of Psychology from Cambridge College, in the United States, and works on the coordinating team of Pioneers of Change, a global network of young leaders, activists, social entrepreneurs and change agents interested in understanding and having an impact on the systems that affect the communities, institutions, and societies around them.

Dumisani is a youth activist, leader, motivator and consultant with a range of experiences from building and coordinating global action networks, facilitating large and small gatherings, workshops and conferences, to advising organizations on strategic development, team building and the inclusion and participation of youth in programmes and processes. Having previously worked with the Earth Council at its former headquarters in Costa Rica, Dumisani helped to launch the youth component of the international Earth Charter Initiative for which he continues to act as an advisor. Dumisani has also worked as a youth coordinator at the Youth Employment Summit (YES) Campaign, where he helped to organize the first global summit on Youth Employment, and to establish YES Country Networks in over 70 countries, which are youth-led multi-stakeholder coalitions that are launching projects around the world to create sustainable livelihoods for youth.

Dumisani serves as an advisor and board member to innovative organizations globally such as TakingITGlobal, EnVision Leadership,  EcoVentures International, the Global Youth ACTION Network, The Sweet Mother Tour, IDEAS, and the Zimele Institute at the Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) in Zimbabwe. He is also a writer and a keen musician.\

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Steven C. Rockefeller (United States)

Steven C. Rockefeller is professor emeritus of religion at Middlebury College, where he taught for 30 years and also served as dean of the College and chair of the religion department. He received his master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and his PH.D. in the philosophy of religion from Columbia University. He is the author of John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism (Columbia, 1991) and the co-editor of two books of essays, The Christ and the Bodhisattva (SUNY, 1987) and Sprit and Nature: Why the Environment is a Religious Issue (Beacon, 1992). His essays appear in a variety of books and journals. In recent years, much of his research and writing has focused on global ethics, sustainable development, and the interrelation of democracy, ecology, and spirituality.

Over the past twelve years, Professor Rockefeller has played a leading role in the drafting and promotion of the Earth Charter. He chaired the Earth Charter international drafting committee. Following the launch of the Earth Charter in 2000, he was made a member of the Earth Charter Commission. He currently serves as co-chair of the Earth Charter International Council and as chair of Earth Charter Associates, Ltd., which has been set up to provide the ECI Council with financial and legal assistance. His essays on the history, structure, and purpose of the Earth Charter appear in many publications.

Active in the field of philanthropy, Professor Rockefeller has served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) for twenty-five years and chaired the Fund’s board of trustees from 1998 to 2006. The RBF is an international foundation with programmes on democratic practice, sustainable development, peace and security, and arts and culture. Over the past decade, Professor Rockefeller has served on of the Asian Cultural Council, the council of the University for Peace in Costa Rica, the Philanthropic Collaborative in New York City, and the Wendell Gilley Museum in Southwest Harbor, Main. He is a member of the High Level Advisory Panel at UNESCO for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and he served as the moderator for the launch of the DESD at the UN Headquarters in New York City in 2005. In 1999, the Demeter Fund, of which he is the president, established the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge in the Champlain Valley of Vermont in the US.

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Mohamed Sahnoun (Algeria)

Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun was, for many years, special adviser to the secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan, on the Horn of Africa region. Mr. Sahnoun has had a distinguished diplomatic career serving as adviser to the president of Algeria on diplomatic affairs, deputy secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and deputy secretary-general of the League of Arab States in charge of the Arab-Africa dialogue. He has served as Algeria’s ambassador to the United States, France, Germany, and Morocco, as well as to the United Nations (UN).

Previously, he served as special adviser to the director general of the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the Culture of Peace Programme, special envoy of the secretary-general on the Ethiopian/Eritrean conflict (1998-1999), joint representative of the UN and the OAU in the Great Lakes region (1997), special representative of the UN secretary general to Somalia (1992). He was a member of the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) in the 1980s, as well as senior adviser to the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. He was also the first executive director of the Earth Charter Initiative back in 1994. Mr. Sahnoun studied first at the Sorbonne University, in Paris, and than at New York University, where he received his B.A. and M. A. degrees in political science.

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Kartikeya V. Sarabhai is the founder and director of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a national institution engaged in promoting environmental awareness and conservation as well as education for sustainable development. Starting small in Ahmedabad in 1984, CEE today works at the national and international level with a staff of over 200 professionals and 40 offices across India, as well as in Australia and Sri Lanka. In 2005, CEE received the Global award for Outstanding Service to Environmental Education from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). Mr.Sarabhai also set up VIKSAT, an NGO working towards people’s participation in natural resource management, as well as Sundervan, a nature discovery centre.

Mr. Sarabhai has served on several committees of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. These include greening India’s formal education system and initiatives for biodiversity education. Mr. Sarabhai has long been associated with IUCN, and was the chair of South and South-East Asia, IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. He is currently vice-chair of the Indian National Commission. Mr. Sarabhai was instrumental in initiating SASEANEE, the South and Southeast Asian Network for Environment Education. He was a member of the Indian delegation to UNCED at Rio and WSSD at Johannesburg and was co-author of India’s report for UNCED. He has been closely associated with communication initiatives of UNEP, especially those connected with Ozone. Under his leadership CEE organized the first International Conference of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in January 2005. Mr. Sarabhai received the Tree of Learning Award from The World Conservation Union in 1998 in appreciation of his contributions to the field of environmental education and communication. In 2005, The Indian Institute of Human Rights presented Mr. Sarabhai with the World Human Rights Promotion Award.

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Tommy Short is chairman of Earth Council Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a sustainable global society based on the principles of the Earth Charter. He is an international business man and philanthropist who has long supported sustainability projects around the world. In the past two decades, he has travelled extensively in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, working with local communities and organizations to identify and fund projects that support the environment, youth, and the arts. As co-founder and chairman of the Earth Council Alliance, Mr. Short has taken further strides in identifying opportunities and communicating sustainability to numerous organizations with co-founder, Maurice Strong.

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Mary Evelyn Tucker received her PhD from Columbia University in East Asian religions. She was named to a dual appointment with the Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Previously she was a visiting professor of religion at Yale University, and she is founder and coordinator of the Forum on Religion and Ecology. Along with John Grim, she organized a ten-conference series on World Religions and Ecology at Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions, which led to the publication of 10 volumes by Harvard from this series. She co-edited the volumes on the ecological dimensions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. They are also editors of a series of 18 books on Ecology and Justice from Orbis Books. Tucker has been a committee member of the Interfaith Partnership for the Environment at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 1986, and is vice president of the American Teilhard Association. She was a member of the Earth Charter International Drafting Committee.

She has published Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase (Open Court Press, 2003) and edited two volumes on Confucian Spirituality with Tu Weiming. Her newest books are an edited volume of Thomas Berry's papers titled Evening Thoughts: Reflecting of the Earth as Sacred Community (Sierra Club Books and University of California Press, 2006), and The Record of Great Doubts: The Philosophy of Ch'i (Columbia University Press, 2007).

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Mirian Vilela is the executive director of Earth Charter International and has been involved in the initiative internationally since early 1996. She has coordinated an international process of consultation, and set up partnerships with organizations and individuals who contributed to the consultation process and who continue to be involved in the implementation phase of the Charter. She has organized and facilitated numerous international workshops and seminars on values and principles for sustainability. Prior to her work with the Earth Charter, Ms. Vilela worked for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) for two years in preparation of the 1992 UN Earth Summit. She is currently a faculty member of the University for Peace. She holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was an Edward Mason Fellow. 

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Erna Witoelar (Indonesia), Honorary Co-Chair

Erna Witoelar was appointed as UN Special Ambassador for MDGs in Asia & the Pacific in October 2003. She is the former minister of human settlements and regional development (1999-2001) and a former member of the National Assembly of Indonesia. She currently serves as chairperson of the Indonesia biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI), co-chair of the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia, and an Earth Charter Commissioner. Before joining the Indonesian government, she pursued a long career in civil society and led the Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI), founded and led both the Indonesia Forum for the Environment (WALHI) and Friends of the Environment Fund (DML), among others. At the global level she has been elected president of Consumers International (1991-1997), member of the Commission on Developing Countries and Global Changes (1990-1992), and member of the Advisory Committee on Industry and Sustainable Development of the Brundlandt Commission (1985-1986). She is currently the board member of several civil society organizations at national and international levels, including chairing the YIPD (Foundation for Local Governance Innovation), and serves as an advisor to both the Indonesian Association of Municipalities and Association of Districts. She was a recipient of the UNEP Global 500 Award during the Rio Summit in 1992, the Earth Day International Award at the UN in 1993, and the Indonesian Presidential Medal for the Environment in 1995.

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