Councillor Biographies
Prof. Dr. Tewolde Berhan Egziabhe, General Manager, Environmental Protection Authority, Ethiopia
Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher is Director General Ethiopia's Environmental Protection Authority. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science at Addis Ababa University, 1974-78 and later Director of the Ethiopian Conservation Strategy Secretariat 1991-94. During the 1990s Tewolde put much of his energy into negotiations at the various biodiversity-related fora, especially the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In this time he built up a strong group of well-prepared African negotiators who began to take the lead in the G77 and China Group. Africa came out with united, progressive positions, such as no patents on living materials and the recognition of community rights. Later Tewolde's leadership of the Like-Minded Group in the 1999-2000 in the negotiations of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety succeeded against strong US and EU opposition to protect biodiversity, human health and traditional and community rights. He received the "Right Livelihood" Award in 2000 and UNEP's "Champion of the Earth" Award in 2006.
Watch Prof. Dr. Tewolde Berhan talk about the WFC here
