Eleven years residence in the South Pacific as adviser to governments and international organizations in ecology, conservation and environmental management, with extensive field experience, including at the grass-roots level. Three years residence in Africa and twenty years in Europe. Wide knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region and of small island developing States, particularly the developing countries and territories of the Pacific Islands, complemented by experience in the Caribbean and Africa, and visits to many other areas.

Thirty-five years programme management and administrative experience in the planning, organization and evaluation of international multi-disciplinary programmes of research, observation, and environmental assessment and management, including liaison with governments, organization of cooperation among international agencies, directing intergovernmental meetings, scientific symposia and training courses, and implementing the results of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992).

Producer of training and audio-visual materials, lecturer and writer (in English and French) for scientific audiences, universities and the general public on ecology, conservation, religion, environment and sustainable development.

Consultant to many international organizations and government agencies, with special emphasis on indicators of environment and sustainability, coral reef and coastal zone management, conservation of nature and biodiversity, environment and management of islands, environmental education and training, rural social and economic development, and applications of science in developing countries.

Academic experience including organizing curriculum development and teaching graduate level courses in social and economic development, coordinator of UNEP/University of Geneva Environmental Diplomacy Programme, member of scientific committee for University of Geneva Continuing Education Certificate in Sustainable Development, and occasional lecturer for other university courses.

Recent substantive interests have focussed on coral reef protection and management, information for environmental decision-making, indicators of sustainable development, organization of observations and assessments of the global environment, public participation in environmental observations, new economic paradigms, and the special problems of small island developing States.

POSITIONS:
Retired from the United Nations, August 2002.
Director, Coral Reef Unit, Division of Environmental Conventions, United Nations Environment Programme, Geneva, Switzerland, 2000-2002.
Coordinator, UN System-wide Earthwatch, United Nations Environment Programme, Geneva, Switzerland, 1992-2000.
Deputy Assistant Executive Director, Division of Environment Information and Assessment, United Nations Environment Programme, Geneva, Switzerland, 1996-1998.
Deputy to the Director, Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme Activity Centre, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya, 1989-1992.
Consulting ecologist to governments and international organizations, 1982-1989, including: Government of New Caledonia; South Pacific Regional Environment Programme; Kanak Cultural, Scientific and Technical Office (New Caledonia); Office of Technology Assessment, United States Congress; World Conservation Union (IUCN); Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme Activity Centre, United Nations Environment Programme; Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER); Environment and Policy Institute, East-West Center; UNESCO.
Regional Ecological Adviser, South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia, 1974-1982 (organized South Pacific Regional Environment Programme).
Associate Curator (Algae), Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1970-1974, and Research Associate, 1974-1982.
Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., 1969-1970.
Teaching Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 1965-1966.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Sustainable development has been a focus of my whole career even before the term was coined, as integrating environment and development has been my goal since undergraduate studies. I have advised governments of developing countries and islands since 1969, worked for intergovernmental organizations since 1974, and taken a lead in efforts to measure and monitor sustainable development with indicators. I lectured at the first Earth Day in 1970, participated in the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, was in the secretariat for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit) where I helped to draft Agenda 21, and organized several parallel activities at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. I have also written and lectured widely on sustainable development and taught postgraduate courses on the topic.

INDICATORS: I have worked on indicators for more than thirty years, starting with indicators relevant to coral reefs in the early 1970s. In the 1980s I developed a set of indicators and indices for islands. After the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 called for indicators of sustainable development, I organized the first UN meeting to plan such indicators and helped to design the indicators for the Commission on Sustainable Development, as well as participating in two projects on sustainability indicators for the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE). I was a member of the Consultative Group on Sustainable Development Indicators (CGSDI) that produced the Bellagio Principles and the Dashboard of Sustainability. Recent activities have included participating in the development by SOPAC of the Environmental Vulnerability Index, consultant on indices to the World Economic Forum including participating in the revision of the Environmental Sustainability Index (2005) and development of the Environmental Performance Index (2006), and contributing to the development of the Humanitarian Response Index 2007. I am a partner in a new project between universities and civil society organizations in Europe on value-based indicators.

BUSINESS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Since the private sector is an essential partner in efforts to implement more sustainable development, I have increasingly tried to bridge the gaps between environment and economics, government and business. This has included lectures to business groups and at institutions such as the London School of Economics, my book "The Eco Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis", participation in activities of AIESEC (the association of students of business and commerce), serving on the board of the European Bahá'í Business Forum, and consultancies with the World Economic Forum.

GOVERNANCE AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Starting with my participation in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm 1972) and joining the South Pacific Commission in 1974, I have worked with or been employed by international organizations, including the UN and its agencies, regional intergovernmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations, for most of my career. I organized the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and helped to oversee many other Regional Seas Programmes. I have been responsible for intergovernmental meetings, including at the ministerial level, served in the secretariat for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Rio Earth Summit), acted as task manager for the Commission on Sustainable Development for 8 years, and provided the secretariat for a plenipotentiary meeting to adopt a convention. For a decade I was responsible for coordinating environmental monitoring and assessment across the whole UN system, including organizing the Sponsors Group for the Global Observing Systems and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership. This varied experience has given me unique perspectives on international environmental governance.

ISLANDS: I have worked on islands and advised island governments for 38 years, starting with a report to the Governor on the environmental problems of American Samoa in 1969, and continuing with work on islands and coral reefs across the Caribbean. In 1974 I moved to New Caledonia as Regional Ecological Adviser to 22 island countries and territories in the Pacific, and organized the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). I led the IUCN Islands Task Force in the 1980s, reviewed the protected areas system in Oceania, and prepared an Island Directory for IUCN and UNEP. As Deputy Director of the UNEP Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme I helped organize regional seas programmes including all the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In the secretariat for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development I was responsible for drafting the islands section of Agenda 21, and then contributed to organizing the Barbados conference of SIDS in 1994, as well as participating in the follow-up Mauritius International Meeting in 2005. I maintain an islands database and an islands web site, and am a founding board member of the Global Islands Network.

OCEANS AND COASTAL AREAS: The oceans have been part of my life from childhood, and I naturally turned to the sea as a marine scientist, studying at Stanford's marine station on Monterey Bay, at the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington, and at UC Santa Barbara where the whole campus is on the beach. The Smithsonian Institution gave me opportunities to research the complex ecology of coral reefs while diving on reefs all over the world, and in my many years advising the governments of the Pacific Islands, the issues of land and sea were totally integrated. At UNEP I developed and managed intergovernmental oceans and coastal areas programmes, supported oceans assessments, coordinated efforts to conserve marine mammals, and formulated activities to protect the marine environment from land-based activities. In the UNCED secretariat, I was responsible for the final drafting of the oceans and coastal areas chapter of Agenda 21. My last UN assignment was to lead international efforts to save the coral reefs of the world.

CORAL REEFS: Much of my professional career has been devoted to the ecology, management and conservation of coral reefs and associated ecosystems. Starting with long-term reef monitoring surveys in American Samoa in 1969, some highlights of my coral reef activities have been organization (with Ian Macintyre, Klaus Rützler and Steve Smith) of the first international integrated coral reef research programme and establishment of the Smithsonian field station on the Belize Barrier Reef in the early 1970s, preparation of the first simple coral reef monitoring methodology, founding council member of the International Society for Reef Studies, participation in all but two of the International Coral Reef Symposia, and most recently Director of the UNEP Coral Reef Unit, one of the organizers of the International Coral Reef Action Network, and co-leader of the Coral Reef theme team for the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership.

ALGAE: My original scientific training was in marine botany and ecology, and in my first position as curator of algae at the United States National Museum, my research focused on the roles of algae in the coral reef ecosystem. While my interests have broadened over the years, I have maintained my membership in the principal phycological societies and followed the literature to stay generally abreast of the field.

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION: From birding in primary school through an honors project in biodiversity under Peter Raven as an undergraduate to surveys of biodiversity and establishment of protected areas in the Pacific, biodiversity conservation has been a lifelong interest. My experience has ranged from research and theory through international legislation and protected area design to practical aspects of nature conservation at the community level. A life member of the Sierra Club since 1964, I have collaborated with many non-governmental conservation organizations, assisted governments, and organized regional and international conservation and protected area programmes.

EDUCATION: I have been interested in education ever since teaching summer remedial classes for primary school students as a college student, and have frequently had occasion to develop education and training programmes in support of my work for governments and international organizations. This has ranged from curriculum materials for primary and secondary schools and training materials in rural environmental management for use in village areas through films and other supporting audiovisual materials to in-service training programmes for professionals and graduate level university courses. Now that I am retired, I am particularly interested in sharing my experience with younger generations.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION: As a scientist and a Bahá'í, I have always been interested in the harmony of the two great knowledge systems that are science and religion, so complementary yet too often antagonistic. I have tried to show the value of science to religious groups and the importance of values to scientists. This has included over thirty year's experience in inter-religious dialogue, particularly in the area of environment and sustainable development. Some highlights have been participating for the UN in the World Summit on Religions and Conservation at Windsor Castle in 1995, acting as a rapporteur for the Orthodox Church's Conference on Religion, Science and the Environment: The Black Sea in Crisis in 1997, contributing to the series of Klingenthal Symposia on Ecology, Ethics and Spiritualities, speaking on a panel on ecology and religion at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona in 2004, and organizing the International Environment Forum, a Bahá'í-inspired organization for environment and sustainable development. One special interest has been the relationship of traditional cultures and belief systems to sustainable environmental management. I have also lectured and written widely on these topics.

Development, form and environment in the brown alga Zonaria farlowii (Dictyotales). Botanica Marina 14:76-112 (1971). [Integrated analysis of the relationships between cellular organization, morphology and ecology in a marine alga].

Surface area in ecological analysis: quantification of benthic coral reef algae. Marine Biology 23:239-249 (1973). [Quantitative analysis of complex reef surfaces with a discussion of their ecological significance].

A preliminary coral reef ecosystem model. Atoll Research Bulletin 172:7-36 (1973). (edited with B.C. Patton, S.V. Smith and J.C. Zieman, Jr.) [Results of a working group of 80 scientists planning a systems model of a coral reef ecosystem].

Environmental impact on a Samoan coral reef: a resurvey of Mayor's 1917 transect. Pacific Science 31(3):309-319 (1977). (with A. Lamberts) [Quantitative analysis of changes on a coral reef over 60 years].

Regional ecosystems survey of the South Pacific area. South Pacific Commission, Noumea. Technical Paper 179. 99 p. (1980). [Classification and analysis of the distribution of island ecosystems in Oceania].

The state of the environment in the South Pacific. p. 47-71. In Report of the Conference on the Human Environment in the South Pacific, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 8-11 March 1982. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. (with I. Baumgart). Reprinted as UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 31. UNEP, 1983. [Summary of the environmental problems in the tropical Pacific Islands].

Traditional environmental management in New Caledonia: a review of existing knowledge. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Topic Review 18. South Pacific Commission, Noumea. 17 p. (1985). [Review of the aspects of traditional island culture concerned with resource management and the environment].

Review of the protected areas system in Oceania (including Oceania island list). International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland and Cambridge. 73 + 239 p. (1986). [Summary of the status of conservation of species and ecosystems on the islands of the South Pacific, including a more quantitative system for evaluating conservation importance and human impact].

Unless and until: a Baha'i focus on the environment. Baha'i Publishing Trust, London. 96 p. (1990). [Relates environmental issues to future development of human society].

IUCN/UNEP Island Directory. Regional Seas Directories and Bibliographies, No. 35, UNEP, Nairobi. 573 p. (1991). [Compiles geographic, ecological and socio-economic data on some 2,000 islands, with comparative tables]. Revised electronic version (1998): http://islands.unep.ch/isldir.htm

The ECO Principle: Ecology and Economics in Symbiosis. Zed Books Ltd, London and New Jersey, and George Ronald, Oxford. 174 p. (1996). [Systems analysis of economics from an ecological perspective, with proposals for new economic and social paradigms].

"The Big Picture: Comprehensive Approaches - Introduction." Chapter 2, p. 69-83 in Bedrich Moldan, Suzanne Billharz and Robyn Matravers (eds), Sustainability Indicators: A Report on the Project on Indicators of Sustainable Development. Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment, SCOPE 58. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester. (1997). [overview of use of indicators to measure sustainability].

The Challenge of Sustainable Development and Prosperity. Paris, European Baha'i Business Forum, 2002. [relates sustainable development to economics in a business perspective]. http://www.ebbf.org/publications/english/publications013.html

The competitive edge in environmental responsibility, p. 103-110. In Michael E. Porter, Klaus Schwab, Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Augusto Lopez-Claros, The Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005. World Economic Forum. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndsmill, UK and New York. [analyzes business leaders' attitudes to the environment in over 100 countries and demonstrates the positive benefits to business from environmentally-responsible behavour]

The impact of information and communications technologies on the economic competitiveness and social development of Taiwan. p. 107-118 in Soumitre Dutta, Augusto Lopez-Claros and Irene Mia, The Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006: Leveraging ICT for Development. INSEAD and World Economic Forum. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndsmill, UK and New York. (2006) (with Augusto Lopez-Claros). [explains the amazing transformation of the Taiwanese economy and society over 50 years]

Unravelling the puzzling world of islands.  Chapter 2 in G. Baldacchino (ed.), A World of Islands: An Island Studies Reader. Malta & Canada, Agenda Academic and Institute of Island Studies, 2007. (with Christian Depraetere) [provides a geographic overview of islands in all the world's oceans and their significance for human settlement and dispersal]

Full bibliography