Philippe Roch (born 13 September 1949 in

Lancy Lancy is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Lancy is first mentioned in 1097 as ''Lanciaco' Geography Lancy has an area, , of . Of this area, or 5.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 6.5% is forested. ...

) is a retired

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

civil servant.Interview of Philippe Roch, '' La Salamandre'', no. 218, October 2013, pp. 100–101.

Biography

Philippe Roch 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 ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

in 1977. He was elected deputy of the

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland (, CVP), also called the Christian Democratic Party (, PDC), Democratic People's Party (, PPD) and Swiss Christian Democratic Party (, PCD), was a Christian democracy, Christian democratic Li ...

at the

Grand Council of Geneva The Grand Council of Geneva () is the legislature of the canton of Geneva, in Switzerland. Geneva, styled as a 'Republic and Canton', has a unicameral legislature. The Grand Council was established in its present form and with 100 seats in 1 ...

(1973–1982). He was director of the Swiss section of the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

(1977–1992). After that, Roch was appointed Director of the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) by the

Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...

. He occupied this position for 13 years, from 1992 until he resigned on 1 October 2005. He was member of the board of directors of 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 ...

, of the

United Nations Institute for Training and Research The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) is a dedicated training arm of the United Nations system. UNITAR provides training and capacity development activities to assist mainly developing countries with special attention ...

and 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 ...

. Philippe Roch chaired the conference of the parties of 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 ...

(1999–2002) and of the

Rotterdam Convention The Rotterdam Convention (formally, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade) is a multilateral treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relatio ...

(2004–2005). In 2008, he received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

.Doctorats ''honoris causa'' 2008 : M. Philippe Roch
www.unil.ch (page visited on 10 October 2013).

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roch, Philippe Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland politicians Canton of Geneva politicians Environment of Switzerland Swiss environmentalists 1949 births Living people