Mostafa K. Tolba

He established his own school in microbiology at Cairo University's Faculty of Science. In addition to his academic career, he worked in the Egyptian civil service. After serving a brief stint as Minister of Youth he established the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology and became its first president. Prof. Tolba led Egypt's delegation to the landmark Stockholm Conference, which established the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He became UNEP's Deputy Executive Director in May 1973 and at the end of 1995 he was elected Executive Director. During his long tenure of 17 years, he led a number of multilateral regional and global environmental treaties covering regional seas, shared fresh water resources and the famous Montreal Protocol for the protection of the Ozone Layer.