Maurice Strong

Maurice Strong
Earth Citizen, Global Diplomat

     Maurice Strong was the Convener of the 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden and of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 -- the world's first environmental summit which brought together more than 100 Heads of State. He has been a prime mover in the creation of the Earth Council and the Earth Charter, while serving as well as a senior advisor to the UN Secretary General and the President of the World Bank.

     Maurice Strong received the prestigious Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Science and remarked on that occasion:

“… the main lesson I have drawn from my own experience in dealing with this complex of issues is the need for a major shift in the motivational basis of our current behavior. People and nations are motivated not only by their immediate self-interest but by their deepest moral, ethical and spiritual values.”

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For extended discussion see:: T. C. Weiskel, "Global Civil Society and the Human Prospect: The Ethical Challenge of Maurice Strong."