Obituary

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Klaus Töpfer

Image: Friedrich Schiller University Jena

As communicated yesterday by a spokesperson, Klaus Töpfer died on Saturday 8^th of June after a short, serious illness. Töpfer was 85 years old.

Prof. Klaus Töpfer is one of the first notable signatories of The Jena Declaration and patron of its predecessor project 2016 International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU). As a keynote speaker he participated at many of its key events, like the opening and harvest ceremony in Jena as well as the IYGU Rio event of the Brazilian Government in October 2016. Over the recent years he was an important promoter of The Jena Declaration and its claims.

Klaus Töpfer was instrumental in the success of the UN Conference on the Environment in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and promoted intensive bilateral environmental cooperation between Germany and many of the newly emerging countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

In 1998, he took up the post of Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. As a pioneer of sustainable thinking and

Prof. Töpfer was a great supporter and friend of The Jena Declaration, a pioneer of sustainability around the planet. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, family and loved ones.

Benno Werlen
UNESCO Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability
Chair of The Jena Declaration