Maurice F. Strong is one of the leading proponents of UN’s world environment movement. While the world leaders are busy concluding Climate summit, fans and supporters are remembering Strong once again. This article puts light on some of the landmark achievements of the global environmentalist. Read to learn more about him. Maurice F. Strong and his accomplishments:
Maurice Strong was born in a poor family in Manitoba. The principle of the school, where Strong was studying, pushed him to follow strict disciplinary rules. He was forced to have an accelerated learning and hence made Maurice able to start his university education when he was 14-yrs-old only.
It was a time when Strong indulged himself into self-education, he used to observe nature and tried to understand how it worked. Maurice Strong decided to venture into a stint as stowaway at a ship and also rode trains from Canada to Vancouver. It was during his sea voyages when he decided that he would like to work for an organization like United Nations. Readers please take notice that UN was not formed yet. Strong heard the statement that Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt have decided to bring peace and justice to the world and that the leaders have an intention to create organization like United Nations which would help them to achieve this goal. For next few years, Strong kept a close eye on developments related to the establishment of UN and worked at different places. His first links with UN developed in 1947 when he was introduced to an important UN official and he landed a job as junior security officer at the then UN headquarters.
Strong knew that without good education and qualification, he would not be able to reach the higher ranks. So, he returned to Canada and remained associated with several projects including service in YMCA as its national president.
In 1972, UN conducted its first conference on the Human Environment and invited Maurice Strong to lead it. Maurice Strong accepted the invitation and commissioned report on earth’s environmental state. This conference and the report eventually led to the establishment of a separate UN commission for environment known as United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
The achievements of Maurice Strong are countless. He was truly a devoted person who worked tirelessly to protect the environment. Maurice Strong has been awarded with several honors. He is the only non-US citizen to hold the Public Welfare Medal from US National Academy of Science.
Maurice Strong
Comments