The Earth Council - Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland (ots) - The Earth Council is pleased to announce the establishment of the Earth Council -

Geneva and the election of a distinguished business and public service leader, Reto Braun, as its Chairman. The Earth Council - Geneva is an autonomous Swiss non-governmental organization affiliated with the Earth Council Foundation Canada with offices in San Jose, Costa Rica and the Earth Council Foundation - USA. Founded at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 at the initiative of the Summitís Secretary-General, Maurice Strong, the Earth Council has a network of partner organizations throughout the developing world. The Earth Council remains true to its original mission - to support and empower people in building a more secure, equitable and sustainable future.

The Earth Council in Geneva (http://www.EarthCouncil.com) carries out the climate change and market mechanism program in partnership with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and spearheads the e-learning service called LearnSD. "With Reto Braun we have an ideal leader to guide this organization. He brings to the Earth Council his extensive international contacts and his knowledge of the Information Technology industry gained during his 24 years with the Unisys Corporation, as a Member of its Board and as President and Chief Operating Officer of worldwide operations. He is highly qualified to take the leadership role to implement the Earth Councilis strategies in close cooperation with its network of partner organizations and the United Nations to provide professional services to the global community that has emerged in service of sustainable development." Mr. Strong said.

Mr. Braun said, "We are fortunate to have the support of a distinguished and experienced Board of Directors. The Board includes Maurice Strong; José Maria Figueres, Senior Managing Director of the World Economic Forum and former President of the Republic of Costa Rica; Juan Rada, Senior Vice President of Oracle Corporation; Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, Senior Director, UN University for Peace; Michael Zammit Cutajar, former Executive Secretary, UN Climate Change Secretariat; Lucas Assunçao, Coordinator, Climate Change and BioTrade at UNCTAD. Gao Pronove, a former UN staff member, serves as the Executive Coordinator, and who together with Lucas Assunçao, spearheaded the start-up of the Earth Council Geneva as well as its Online Learning Center for Sustainable Development (http://www.LearnSD.org).

For further details, please refer to the Web-Site www.EarthCouncil.com

UNCTAD

Lucas Assunçao

Tel. +41-(0)22-917'57'31

E-Mail:Lucas.assuncao@unctad.org