Mr. Calin Georgescu, Former Special Rapporteur (2010-2012)

Mr. Calin Georgescu was the Special Rapporteur on the human rights obligations related to environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes (formerly on the adverse effects of the movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights) from 2010 to 2012. He has been Executive Director of the National Centre for Sustainable Development, Bucharest, Romania since 2000. An acknowledged authority on strategic planning and public policies design, he was appointed by the Romanian Government to coordinate the preparation of two consecutive versions of the National Sustainable Development Strategy, in 1999 and 2008, adjusted to the requirements of Romania’s EU membership.

Mr. Georgescu combines comprehensive knowledge of the principles and practice of sustainable development with hands-on field experience by working with stakeholders in the public and private sectors as well as with the civil society in order to design, implement and follow through to completion specific projects under Local Agenda 21 (initiated by United Nations Development Programme in 1992) for more than 40 Romanian municipalities.

After graduating in 1986, he acquired further experience from assignments in the United Kingdom and the United States. He earned his PhD in agricultural science in 1999. A former Senior Fellow with the UNDP, he also held various positions with the Romanian government: Adviser to the Minister of Environment, Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment, and Director of the International Economic Organizations Department in the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition he is the Country Representative of the United Nations Environmental Committee, Chair of the Board of the European Support Centre of the Club of Rome in Vienna, Secretary General of the Romanian Association for the Club of Rome, founding member and Executive Director of the Institute for Innovation and Development Projects. In 2011, he was awarded the "Personality of the Year for a European Romania" distinction by the EUROLINK-House of Europe Foundation.

Mr. Georgescu co-authored Romania 2020 (Editura Conspress, Bucharest, 1998), Back to Basics: Reshaping Professional Worth in Romania (Institute for Innovation and Development Projects - IPID, Bucharest, 2008) Romania's Wealth: The People (IPID, Bucharest, 2009), Romania Post-Crisis (IPID, Bucharest, 2010) and Romania after the crisis. Reshaping Professional Worth (Editura Compania, Bucharest, 2010) prospective studies dealing mainly with the impact of human capital development on Romania's socio-economic progress.

He also contributed chapters on environment and sustainable development to Strategic Reports on Romania. His essays, articles and interviews were featured in national periodicals. He has also appeared on numerous national television programmes.