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 (CSCE) he has devoted his entire career to environment and sustainable development, beginning with five years in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Policy Planning Division. 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. There followed fourteen years at IUCN, first in the Conservation for Development Centre (integrated into IUCN as the Field Operations Division), then as Director of Development and, finally, 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 for the four years of its mandate, taking special responsibility for developing countries. Mark writes and lectures on the subject of sustainable development. He chairs the Board of Trustees of TRAFFIC International, that of the Global Rewilding Alliance, and that of Mapping Pathways to Security (MPS) and sits on the board of the Building Bridges Foundation. He is a Senior Advisor to NatureFinance and to the Swiss Nature Finance Accelerator. In 2019 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for services in Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding. Mark is a citizen of Switzerland and Italy.