Mostafa Kamal Tolba () (8 December 1922 – 28 March 2016) was an Egyptian scientist who served for seventeen years as the executive director of the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

(UNEP). In that capacity he led development of the

Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 ...

, which saved the

ozone layer The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the a ...

and thus millions of lives from skin cancer and other impacts.

Biography

Mustafa Kamal Tolba was born in the town of

Zifta Zefta ( , Coptic: ⲍⲉⲃⲉⲑⲉ ''Zevethe'Emile Amélineau.'' La géographie de l’Egypte à l'époque copte. — Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1893. — 690 p) is an Egyptian city in the Nile delta, within the Gharbia governorate, ...

(located in

Gharbia Governorate Gharbia ( ', , "the western governorate") is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the north of the country, south of Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, and north of Monufia Governorate. Its capital is Tanta, which is 90 km north of ...

), Tolba graduated from

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

in 1943 and obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

five years later. He established his own school in

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

at Cairo University's Faculty of Science and also taught at the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) (, also known as Baghdad University) is a public university, public research university in Baghdad, Iraq. It is the largest university in Iraq and the tenth largest in the Arab world. History The College of Isl ...

during the 1950s. In addition to his academic career, Tolba worked in the Egyptian civil service. After serving briefly as President of the

Egyptian Olympic Committee The Egyptian Olympic Committee (, abbreviated as EOC) is a non-profit organization serving as the National Olympic Committee of Egypt and a part of the International Olympic Committee. History The Egyptian Olympic Committee was founded during th ...

(1971–1972), Tolba led Egypt's delegation to the landmark 1972 Stockholm Conference, which established the United Nations Environment Programme. Tolba became UNEP's Deputy Executive Director immediately after the conference, and two years later was promoted to executive director. During his long tenure as director of UNEP (1975–1992), he played a central role in the fight against

ozone depletion Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed since the late 1970s: a lowered total amount of ozone in Earth, Earth's upper atmosphere, and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone (the ozone layer) around Earth's polar ...

, which culminated with the Vienna Convention (1985) and the

(1987). He enabled these negotiations by serving as a bridge between ministers and scientists since they did not understand each others' language. He described the Montreal Protocol as a "start and strengthen" treaty, where the parties started modestly, gained the knowledge they needed to phase out the dangerous chemicals, and gained the confidence they needed to do more. He successfully steered negotiations for the

Basel Convention The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations ...

on transboundary hazardous waste. He was a significant influence in the creation and organization of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...

, and the

Global Environment Facility The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental fund that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants (P ...

. He led the work to develop the

Convention on Biological Diversity The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its ...

. In 1982, Mostafa K. Tolba, as executive director of the United Nations environmental program, told UN delegates that if the nations of the world continued their present policies, they would face by the turn of the century ''an environmental catastrophe which will witness devastation as complete, as irreversible, as any

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a Futures studies, theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes widespread destruction and radi ...

.'' Tolba died on 28 March 2016 in Geneva at the age of 93.

Publications

Tolba's publications include more than 95 papers on

plant pathology Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease ...

, as well as over 600 statements and articles on the environment.

References

External links

Image of Mostafa Tolba
1922 births 2016 deaths Alumni of Imperial College London Cairo University alumni Academic staff of Cairo University Egyptian biologists Egyptian civil servants Environmental scientists Egyptian microbiologists United Nations Environment Programme Egyptian officials of the United Nations Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Egyptian expatriates in the United Kingdom {{Egypt-scientist-stub