International Institute for Sustainable Development

Mark Halle

Mark grew up in Geneva, took is first degree from Tufts University in the US and a post-graduate degree in history from the University of Cambridge.  Following two years with the Diplomatic Secretariat of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe he has devoted his entire career to environment and sustainable development, beginning with five years with the United Nations Environment Programme.

He then spent four years in WWF-International’s Conservation Division, with responsibility for building its programmes in China and as conservation advisor to HRH The Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh and fourteen years at IUCN, first in the Conservation for Development Centre, as Director of Development and as Director of Policy and Partnerships.  He left IUCN to establish the International Institute for Sustainable Development (Europe) which he directed until retirement in 2016 and where he remains a Senior Fellow.  Mark was a Senior Advisor to the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, chairs the Board of Trustees of TRAFFIC International and the Swiss NGO Aquasis and sits on the board of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network-Switzerland, the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) in the United States, the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR) in China, and Sustainable Finance Geneva.  He is founder of the Geneva 2030 Ecosystem, a platform for dialogue and cooperation about the challenge of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.