ICLEI announces new Secretary General
16 January 2013
by Richard Forster
Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, the Secretary General, is bowing out after 20 years of service at ICLEI, the international network of local governments focussed on sustainability. His deputy, Gino Van Begin, will replace him from January 2013.
“Gino is an excellent choice for this role,” said Otto-Zimmermann. “For more than ten years, he has led the most international of our regional secretariats in terms of nationalities represented, languages spoken and working relationships with other regions, and has assisted me in global affairs as our Deputy Secretary General.”
Otto-Zimmermann now moves into an honorary position as Chairman of ICLEI Urban Agendas and returns to his hometown of Freiburg, Germany. “In this capacity I’ll continue supporting what I have worked passionately for and helped build up,” he told Cities Today. “Low-Carbon City and Resilient Cities are two of ICLEI’s eight agendas, and I will support the further development and resourcing of these programmes.”
After joining ICLEI in 2000, Van Begin became ICLEI’s chief negotiator on local climate actions and was instrumental in organising major events, including the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Conferences.
“ICLEI with its multi-facets and various functions, as developed by our two former Secretary Generals, is set to play important roles at all levels,” Van Begin said.
Van Begin told Cities Today that his priorities over the coming years will be striking a balance between responding to all global opportunities and needs as an international, yet non-for-profit organisation with its own financial needs, and on the other hand, constantly innovating on local sustainability through projects worldwide.
“I hope to have convinced more cities and local leaders to adopt sustainable practices and thus to join our 1000+ movement,” he said. “In particular, we will work hard to extend our work to many more cities in India and China, which together represent over one-third of the world’s population, and other emerging economies. I also hope to contribute towards providing the local government voice with more weight in global sustainability-related dealings.”
