Posted on November, 18 1999
Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, Prof Lubbers was elected President of the Board of Trustees of WWF International at its 1999 Annual Conference being held in the capital of Sabah in east Malaysia.
"Analysing global trends and the increasing destruction of nature, I have come to realize that WWF, as a non-governmental organization, most effectively achieves concrete conservation results," he observed. "It's an honour and a challenge for me to now serve as the President of WWF International."
Before becoming Prime Minister, Prof Lubbers was Netherlands' Minister of Economic Affairs. After his political career, he became Professor on Globalisation at Netherlands' Tilburg University and Visiting Professor at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is currently Chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalisation and Development based in Tilburg, Netherlands.
The Annual Conference, inaugurated by the Sabah Chief Minister YAB Datuk Seri Panglima Osu Haji Sukam, saw WWF delegates from 28 countries discuss the challenges of protecting nature and the global environment in the coming century. The Chief Minister also announced his government's commitment to fully gazette and protect 27,000 hectares of the lower Kinabatangan floodplain as a wildlife sanctuary. WWF recognizes this commitment as a Gift to the Earth - concrete actions by governments, businesses or individuals to protect nature and reduce pollution and the wasteful exploitation and consumption of resources and energy.
It was also agreed that with the new millennium, WWF will embark on a whole new phase of conservation work. The organization will focus on ecoregions, enhancing campaigning as a tool in delivering effective conservation. Ecoregion-based conservation addresses the root causes of biodiversity loss. It creates partnerships with key players and stakeholders and provides a basis for establishing priorities. WWF has identified some 200 ecoregions it considers most outstanding and representative of the world's major habitat types.
"The challenges in protecting nature and the global environment in the next century are gigantic," added Dr Claude Martin, WWF International Director General. "If we conserve the global 200 ecoregions, then we conserve the broadest range possible of biodiversity and ecological processes. Balancing ongoing conservation action with socio-economic needs and long-term visioning, WWF is well equipped to face the conservation challenges of the new millennium."
For more information, contact:
Thomas Schultz-Jagow or Chng Soh Koon in Sabah, Malaysia, tel.: +60 88 293 450 ;
Olivier van Bogaert in Switzerland, tel.: +41 22 364 95 54.
NOTE TO EDITORS
PROF RUUD LUBBERS' BIODATA
Prof. Ruud Lubbers, born in Rotterdam 7 May 1939, graduated in economics in 1962. The same year he married Maria E.J. Hoogeweegen, who gave him three children. In 1963, he entered Hollandia, a family-owned company active in bridge building, sluice gates, steel structures and mechanical works.
His first relationship with environmental problems was at the end of the sixties, as member of the Rijnmondraad (greater Rotterdam). In 1971, he was among the first to take part in the Club of Rome discussion (Limits to Growth).
In 1973, he became Minister of Economic Affairs, in which capacity he had to cope with the first oil crisis (the Netherlands were hit by an oil embargo).
In 1974, he presented "The First White Paper on Energy", in which conservation policies and alternative sources of energy were pleaded for.
In 1982 Ruud Lubbers became Prime Minister. He stayed in office for twelve years. In 1989 the first comprehensive plan on environment and nature was presented to parliament together with Ed Nijpels, the then Minister for the Environment and former trustee of WWF International.
In 1989, Ruud Lubbers, together with Gro Harlem Brundlandt and Michel Rocard (the then Prime Minister of France) convened a conference in The Hague, resulting in the Declaration of The Hague, an agenda setting document for UNCED (Rio de Janeiro 1992).
After his departure in 1994 as a politician - "after twelve years it is better for democracy to resign" - he was active in part-time jobs. He became Professor on Globalization at the Tilburg University (The Netherlands) and visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University (USA).
He was also Vice-Chairman of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans ("The Ocean our Future") and worked closely with Elisabethe Mann Borgese (I.O.I.; "The Oceanic Circle").
In Tilburg, he is chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalization and Development. More information about Mr Lubbers' work on globalization and sustainable development can be found on his website www.globalize.org.
Related links