27 June 2016: Erik Solheim, former Minister of Environment and International Development, Norway, assumed his position as Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), pledging to focus his tenure on tackling environmental issues affecting human health, and environmental factors leading to conflict and migration.

Commencing the UNEP position, which confers the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General, Solheim said there is an urgent need to fight climate change, halt ecosystem destruction, and reduce pollution, noting that doing so will also address poverty. He noted that some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges include tackling air pollution, maintaining healthy ecosystems and oceans, and combating climate change. He also highlighted the need for bringing in private sector investment for sustainable development, promoting clean technology, and greening the finance sector, stressing that that collaborative approaches are needed.

Solheim previously led the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), from 2013 to 2016. While at the OECD, he served as the UNEP Special Envoy for Environment, Conflict and Disaster. He was involved in facilitating the peace process in Sri Lanka from 1998 to 2005, and also contributed to peace processes in Burundi, Myanmar, Sudan and Nepal.

During his time as a government minister, from 2005 to 2012, Norway contributed 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to official development assistance, outstripping the recommended minimum level of 0.7%. In this role, Solheim contributed to the process that created the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD).

Solheim was appointed Executive Director of UNEP on 13 May 2016. [UNEP Press Release] [Biography of Erik Solheim] [UNEP Website]