Princess Basma Bint Talal, Jordan
Victor Danilov-Danilyan, Russia
Prof. Istvan Lang, Hungary
Dr. Rita Levi Montalcini, Italy
Dr. Rudolphus Lubbers, The Netherlands
Prof. Wangari Maathai, Kenya
Pat Mitchell, USA
Adolf Ogi, Switzerland
H. E. Javier Perez de Cuellar, Peru
Robert Redford, USA
Dr. Karan Singh, India
Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, The Netherlands
David Suzuki, Canada
Dr. Monkombu S. Swaminathan, India
Diane Meyer Simon, USA
Ted Turner, USA
Dr. Yevgeny Velikhov, Russia
Wakako Hironaka, Japan
Princess Basma Bint Talal, Jordan
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Victor Danilov-Danilyan, Russia
Professor Danilov-Danilyan has extensive knowledge and expertise in the environmental sciences, serving as Director of the Institute of Water Problems and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as Chair of the State Committee for Environmental Protection.
As a long-standing academician and experienced ecologist, Danilov-Danilyan has been a strong advocate for campaigns in Russia aimed at solving water problems and addressing climate change.
Professor Istvan Lang is a Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and former member of the World Commission on Environment and Development.
Dr. Rita Levi Montalcini, Italy
In 1986, Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini and her colleague, Dr. Stanley Cohen (b. 1937), won the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discoveries of NGF (nerve growth factor), a substance found in malignant tumors that cause nerve fibers to grow rapidly, and of EGF (epidermal growth factor), which is used in the treatment of severe burns.
On August 1, 2001 she was appointed Senator-for-life by then President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. She actively takes part in Upper House discussions, when she isn't partaking in academic activities around the world.
Dr. Rudolphus Lubbers, The Netherlands
Dr. Rudolphus (Ruud) Franciscus Marie Lubbers was elected Chairman of the Young Christian Employers Association in 1964, later becoming Chairman of the Catholic Association of Metalwork Employers and a member of the board of the Netherlands Christian Employers Federation.
In October 2000 the U.N. General Assembly, following his nomination by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, elected him as the U.N. Refugee Agency's High Commissioner. He succeeded Mrs. Sadako Ogata of Japan on December 31st, 2000.
On September 6th, 2004 Ruud Lubbers received an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University Nijmegen.
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Prof. Wangari Maathai, Kenya
Wangari Muta Maathai (1 April 1940-25 September 2011) was born in Nyeri, Kenya. In 1964, she obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas. In doing so, she became the first woman in East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Two years later, in 1966, she subsequently earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi. She became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.
Wangari Maathai was active on the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87, serving as its chairman from 1981-87. It was while she served on the National Council of Women that she introduced the idea of planting trees with the people in 1976. She then developed the idea into a broad-based, grassroots organization whose main focus in the planting of trees with womens' groups was to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement she has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms, schools and church compounds.
Wangari Maathai was internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
Professor Maathai was also listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100 heroines of the world. Professor Maathai has received honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions around the world: William's College, MA, USA (1990), Hobart & William Smith Colleges (1994), University of Norway (1997), and Yale University (2004).
In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed by the president as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament.
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Pat Mitchell, USA
Pat Mitchell was named president and chief executive officer of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in March 2000. She is the first producer to head the public service broadcaster, coming to PBS from a long and respected career in commercial broadcasting and cable.
In her three decade career in media, Mitchell has worked for NBC, CBS and ABC. She has also held positions as a network correspondent, a news anchor, and in the mid-eighties as a host and producer of an Emmy award winning talk program. She was also an independent producer and President of the original programming division at CNN, and was the Executive Producer for multiple award-winning documentaries and specials. Her work has earned her 37 Emmys, five Peabodys, and two Academy Award nominations. Mitchell was named Women in Cable and Broadcasting's Woman of the Year in 2001, received the CINE Golden Eagle for Lifetime Achievement, was named as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Television by the Hollywood Reporter, and recently received the Sandra Day O'Connor Award for leadership.
She is a Director of Knight Ridder, Inc. and Bank of America, as well a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Afghan Women's Council, an adviser to the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Harvard University and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mayo Clinic Foundation. She speaks extensively on the role of media in society, including testimonies to both the U.S. Congress and the British House of Lords.
A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia, with a master's degree in English literature, Mitchell has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Emerson College, Hollins University, Bloomsburg University and Converse College. She is a resident of both Atlanta and Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Scott, have six children and 8 grandchildren.
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Adolf Ogi, Switzerland
Adolf Ogi was elected Federal Councilor in 1987. As such he was in charge of the Federal Department for Transport, Communications and Energy from 1988-95, then the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports from 1995-2000. In 1993 and in 2000 he was President of the Swiss Confederation. In February 2001, he was appointed to the task of assisting the Secretary-General in his efforts to reach out to the world of sport in order to promote understanding and support for the work and ideals of the United Nations.
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H. E. Javier Perez de Cuellar, Peru
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra (born January 19th, 1920 in Lima) is a Peruvian diplomat who served as the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1st, 1982 to December 31st, 1991.
He was President of the Council of Ministers, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs from November 2000 until July 2001.
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Robert Redford, USA
Robert Redford was born on August 18th, 1936, in Santa Monica, California to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Hart. He studied acting in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Television and stage experience led him to film and television roles. His breakthrough role was as the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), when he was 32. The Way We Were and The Sting, both released in 1973, made Redford the number one box office star for the next three years. Redford used his clout to advance environmental causes and his wealth to acquire Utah property, which he transformed into a ranch and the Sundance ski resort. In 1980 he established the Sundance Institute for aspiring filmmakers.
Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People (1980), won him his Academy Award for Best Director in 1981.
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Dr. Karan Singh, India
Born heir apparent (Yuvaraj) to Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh started his political life at the early age of eighteen when, in 1949, he was appointed Regent by his father on the intervention of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Thereafter he was head of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir for the next eighteen years first as Regent, then as elected Sadar-i-Riyasat and lastly as Governor.
His leadership role was unique in that it began as the last representative of the old order and then became, by the will of the people, the first representative of the new. During these years he fulfilled his delicate and onerous duties with much success.
In 1967, Dr Karan Singh was inducted as a member of the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At 36, he was the youngest person ever to become a Central Cabinet Minister in India. He was elected soon thereafter to the Lok Sabha from the Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu and Kashmir on behalf of the Indian National Congress by an overwhelming majority, and was re-elected in 1971, 1977 and 1980. He is now a member of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of Parliament) of Jammu & Kashmir.
Dr Karan Singh is married to the gracious Princess Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, grand-daughter of' the last Rana prime minister of Nepal, Maharaja Mohun Shumsher. She is an eminent social worker. As President of the Delhi Society for the Welfare of Mentally Retarded Children (Okhla Centre), she has built up an excellent centre in New Delhi which provides day-care, vocational training and other facilities to the mentally disabled.
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Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, The Netherlands
Rabbi Soetendorp was born in Amsterdam in 1943. As an infant he was saved by non-Jews during the Second World War. Later in life, he re-established many Jewish communities in the Netherlands.
He is Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Community in The Hague (The Netherlands), presides over the European Region of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, is now the co-Chair of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders, is a founding member of Green Cross International, and an Earth Charter Commissioner.
He is also a member of the International Advisory Committee of the World Peace Summit. He acts as adviser to the American Jewish World Service and is the Founder and Chair of Hope Foundation for Children for Universal Education, which aims to raise 0,1% of gross yearly income for education of children everywhere.
Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp participates as a key discussion partner for the World Economic Forum in his function as Religious Leader. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the World Council of Religious Leaders, launched in Bangkok in June 2002.
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David Suzuki, Canada
David T. Suzuki PhD, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster.
David was born in Vancouver, BC in 1936. During World War II, at the age of six, he was interned with his family in a camp in BC. After the war, he went to high school in London, Ontario. He graduated with Honours from Amherst College in 1958 and went on to earn his PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961.
David has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of award-winning work in broadcasting, explaining the complexities of science in a compelling, easily understood way. He is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science television series, The Nature of Things.
An internationally respected geneticist, David was a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus with UBC's Sustainable Development Research Institute. From 1969 to 1972 he was the recipient of the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship Award for the "Outstanding Canadian Research Scientist Under the Age of 35".
He has received numerous awards including the Roger Tory Peterson Award from Harvard University. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He has received 20 honorary doctorates - 13 from Canada, four from the United States and three from Australia. First Nations people have honoured him with six names, formal adoption by two tribes, and made him an honorary member of the Dehcho First Nations.
The author of 43 books, David Suzuki is recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He lives with his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis, and two daughters in Vancouver.
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Dr. Monkombu S. Swaminathan, India
Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is an Indian agricultural scientist, who was born on August 17th, 1925, in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu.
He is known as the "Father of the Green Revolution in India" for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.
He is the founder and Chairman of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, and from 2002 to 2005 was Co-Chairman with Dr. Pedro Sanchez of the UN Millenium Taskforce on Hunger. Since 2002, Dr. Swaminathan has been the President of the Nobel Peace-Prize-winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs that seek to reduce the danger of armed conflict and find solutions to global security threats.
Dr. Swaminathan is married to Mina Swaminathan whom he met in 1951 whilst studying at Cambridge. They have three daughters and five grandchildren.
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Diane Meyer Simon, USA
Diane has devoted her life to numerous organizations and businesses spanning Indiana, where she was Indianapolis Woman of the Year, and California, where she moved in 1989. Diane Irene Meyer Simon is Founder, President Emerita and Past Chair of Global Green USA. Diane founded Global Green USA (GG USA) following a Moscow Board Meeting of Green Cross International (GCI) in August 1993 with the Honorable Mikhail Gorbachev, President. There, GCI Founder and President Mikhail Gorbachev personally enlisted her to organize a US affiliate and become a Member of the GCI Honorary Board. Since then, Diane has committed herself to personally spear-heading the GG USA Agenda and moulding a message of International Environmental Responsibility for an American audience.
As President of Global Green USA, Diane brought to fruition a 38-year political career as staffer, organizer, administrator, fundraiser and strategist. Her work with Mikhail Gorbachev is of a global nature and magnitude, as is her work with the Sadat Peace Foundation. Over the years spanning 1993 through nearly 2005, Diane has remained the driving force in representing an agenda and a vision for Global Green USA and Green Cross International.
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Ted Turner, USA
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III, born November 19th, 1938, is an American media mogul and philanthropist.
As a businessman, he is best known as the founder of the cable television network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition to CNN, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he is well known for his $1 billion pledge to the United Nations donated through his United Nations Foundation.
Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, which was worth approximately one million dollars when Turner took it over in 1963. His Cable News Network revolutionised news media, coming to the forefront covering the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Using his media empire for publicity, Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a nationally popular franchise and launched the charitable Goodwill Games.
In addition to his charitable donations, Turner has devoted his assets to a blend of environmentalism and capitalism. He also created the environmental education/action animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. On April 26th, 2007 Ted Turner was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.
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Dr. Yevgeny Velikhov, Russia
E.P. Velikhov was born in 1935. He graduated from the Physical Department of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1958.
Dr. Velikhov's scientific interests centre around plasma physics, controlled thermonuclear fusion, high-power pulsed MHD-generators, power engineering, and gas and technological lasers.
Throughout his professional career he has authored over 1500 scientific publications and had a number of inventions and discoveries.
He is the President of the Russian Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", a title that he has held since 1992.
He has been awarded the USSR State Prize (1977), the Lenin Prize (1984) and the RF State Prize (2003).
He has also been named an Honorary Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences and the A.F.Ioffe PhTI.
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Wakako Hironaka, Japan
Wakako Hironaka is a Member of the House of Councillors (Upper House of the Japanese Diet) and a Standing Officer of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Ms. Hironaka was first elected to the House of Councillors in 1986 by proportional representation. In July 1998, she was elected from Chiba Prefecture by prefectural constituencies and was reelected in 2004. She is now serving her fourth term. Ms. Hironaka is currently Chair of the Research Committee on Economy, Industry and Employment and a Member of the Committee on Education, Culture, and Science. In 2005-06 she served as the Vice President of the Democratic Party of Japan. In 1993-94, she was the State Minister, Director-General of the Environment Agency in the Hosokawa Cabinet.
Ms. Hironaka is also active internationally as Vice-Chair of Global Environmental Action (GEA), Co-Chair of Micro Credit Summit Council of Parliamentarians, as a Member of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, a member of the Earth Charter Commission, and as the International Senior Advisory Board of UNESCO.
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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