The search for the new UN Secretary-General is starting to find its way into the press and public commentary. Although the SG focuses day-to-day on issues deemed remote from environmental concerns, the person at the top can really make a difference in how the UN tackles environment, population, health, and poverty questions.
Former Norwegian Prime Minister and WHO head Gro Harlem Brundtland, for example, is a commonly mentioned candidate. Brundtland chaired the mid-80s panel that produced Our Common Future, the influential volume that helped set the agenda for the 1992 Rio Summit and provides the most commonly used definition of sustainable development.
Asian countries believe it is their turn, but splits between China and Japan, among others, may keep a single Asian candidate from emerging.
You can read all the gossip on who is up and who is down at “Who will be the next Secretary General?“
