Thabo Mbeki

President Thabo Mbeki "is well known as one of the architects of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which has a strong environmental component. South Africa also provided the perfect stage for WSSD, which it hosted under the slogan “People, Planet, and Prosperity”. Holding WSSD in South Africa gave delegates a valuable insight not only into the many formidable challenges that Africa faces, but also into how Africa can and will rise to those challenges.South Africa’s implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation is well on track to meet the Johannesburg targets on water and sanitation. It is also a world leader in conservation practices, through its innovative use of a wide variety of available management tools and its spearheading of the groundbreaking sponsorship of the Peace Parks concept to support cross-border conservation of critically important wild habitats. With the declaration of four new Marine Protected Areas in 2004, it has also brought almost 19 per cent of its coastline under protection, already nearly achieving the 20 per cent target set at WSSD."

• Winner of a 2005 UNEP: Champions of the Earth Award
• Co-chair, State of the World Forum
• Honorary Patron, Peace Parks Foundation