Search underway for new Director General

13 April 2006

Dear members of IUCN, Commission members, donors and partners, staff and friends,

As many of you are aware already, Achim Steiner will be stepping down as World Conservation Union (IUCN) Director General on 31 May in order to take up his appointment as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) from 15 June 2006. The IUCN Council has the responsibility to conduct the search for and recruit the best qualified person to succeed Achim Steiner. A Search Committee has been constituted for this purpose and a process launched to fill this key position of Chief Executive of the World Conservation Union.

The attached advertisement has been placed in several major publications and it is now being widely distributed through electronic networks and on websites.

I invite IUCN members, Commission members, donors and partners, staff and friends to assist the Council in reaching out to potential and qualified candidates who may be interested in this position. For more information, please visit www.iucn.org/dgsearch.

Valli Moosa