- Professional Status and Experience
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- Chair, Development Alternatives, New Delhi (from 1983)
- Chairman and CEO, Various Social Enterprises in India (1985 to Present)
- Director, Infoterra, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi (1976-82)
- Director, Office of Environmental Planning, Gov’t of India, Delhi (1972-76)
- Manager, Various Businesses in the US (1965-70) and India (1985 to Present)
- Faculty, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass (1963-70)
- National and International Positions
- President International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), (from 2008)
- President, Club of Rome (from 2006)
- Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the UN (from 2007)
- Member, International Advisory Board, CaixaBank, Barcelona (from 2008)
- Consultant to the World Bank, the United Nations, and Corporations
- Member of the Boards of many international organizations, including IUCN, WWF, IISD, SEI, World Future Council, Centre for Our Common Future, etc
- Member of the Boards of Indian Government and NGO bodies such as National Security Advisory Board, National Environmental Council, WWF-India, etc
- Awards and Honors
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- Zayed International Environment Prize, 2014
- The WWF Duke of Edinburgh Medal, 2012
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), 2008
- Schwab Foundation Award for Outstanding Social Entrepreneur, 2004
- The United Nations Sasakawa Environment Prize, 2002
- The Stockholm Challenge Award, 2001
- Officer of The Order of the Golden Ark of The Netherlands, 1999
- Additional Activities
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As Teaching Fellow with Professor Roger Revelle, designed and taught Nat Sci 118, Population, Resources and the Environment" at Harvard in 1965, the first University course on the environment
- Set up and headed the first governmental agency for the Environment in the Third World and among the first few in the world, establishing early policies for India on environmental and conservation issues
- Set up the first internat. environmental information system, Infoterra at UNEP
- Spoken, written and published extensively on environmental and dev’t issues
- Education
- PhD in Experimental Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, USA (1971)
- BA (Hons.) in Natural Sciences, Cambridge University, UK (1962)
- Schooling in India, UK, Italy and Switzerland