Career

CURRENT POSITIONS 

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PAST POSITIONS

Chairman, Commission on Environmental Strategy and Planning, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), 1990-96. Full-time concurrent position. (Commission Chair Emeritus since 1996.)

Career Foreign Service officer, U.S. Department of State, 1962-69. Assignments: American Vice Consul, Lubumbashi [then Elisabethville] and Kinshasa [then Leopoldville], Congo (during the Katanga secession and  Simba revolt); Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State, Washington (served as chief of secretariat of an interagency committee of the National Security Council).

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Founded and have directed a university-affiliated public policy institute since 1969, raising support for projects through a publishing program; grants from foundations, and contracts with state, federal, and international agencies.

Have advised numerous U.S. federal, California state, foreign government, and international agencies, as well as nongovernmental organizations and selected business corporations, on environmental policy and sustainable development. These have ranged, for example, from the U.S. President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to the Natural Resources Agency of California, the Public Health Institute, and United Nations agencies. 

Initiated and continue to lead an effort within IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to link nature conservation more closely with urban people, urban places, and urban institutions. Organized a workshop on urban outreach strategies for protected area agencies at the Fifth World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa, 2003, and edited the 34-author book that resulted, The Urban Imperative (2005).

Authored Urban Protected Areas (2014), the first comprehensive guide to the subject (2001-present).  

Directed a global project on defining and measuring sustainable development, and edited the 17-author book that resulted, A Sustainable World (1993-95). A review in Choice, a journal of the American Library Association stated: "Should be read by anyone interested in the future of the world's human/economic/environmental interactions."

Conducted an international project, supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, to explore how the sustainability ethic can be built into decision-making; this resulted in a report with specific recommendations (1994-95).

As chairman of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Strategy and Planning, appointed and guided international working groups on policy tools, landscape conservation, national strategies for sustainable development, environmental ethics, management of common property, and population and environment (1990-96).

As commission chairman, visited numerous countries to speak, conduct workshops, consult with leaders, and visiting field projects, all related to environmental policy innovations (1990-96).

Organized and chaired an international workshop, The Power of Convening: Collaborative Policy Forums for Sustainable Development, bringing together practitioners and scholars from the U.S. and abroad to share experience and ideas on policy dialogues as a decision-making tool; resulted in an influential book (1989-90).

Organized and chaired high-level policy dialogues in California on such issues as strategic natural resource planning (1990-91), research for state government needs (1989-90), toxic waste (1985-87), protection of prime agricultural land (1982-83), and issues related to transportation of Alaskan oil and natural gas (1976).

Served as Chairman of the Sierra Club International Committee (1977-79); and as Regional Vice President of the Sierra Club for Southern California, focusing especially on energy, desert, coastal, state park, and national forest issues (1975-77).

Have been involved in numerous activities at The Claremont Colleges in California, 1967-present. InterEnvironment Institute has been affiliated with Claremont Graduate University 1972-present. 

As a young U.S. Foreign Service officer, assisted senior diplomats in crisis situations in Africa and high-level politico-military negotiations in Washington, France, Australia, New Zealand, and NATO commands (1960s).

Delegate, speaker, or organizer of panels at numerous conferences sponsored by such organizations as IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), UNESCO, United Nations Climate Change Convention, UN Environment Programme, UN-HABITAT, American Institute of Planners, Western States Petroleum Association, Basque Government (Spain), and The Environment Council (London).

OTHER ROLES (SELECTION)

Advisory Board, Cities and Biodiversity Outlook, Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity 

Advisory Board, InterClimate Network, United Kingdom

Advisory Board, University of Southern California State Capital Center (2000-2006)

President, Book Publishers Association of Southern California (1975-77)

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Government, Claremont Graduate University

Graduate studies in political science and African affairs, University of California, Berkeley

B.A., International Relations - Politics, University of Southern California