Maurice Strong
Encyclopedia
Maurice F. Strong, PC
, CC
, OM
, FRSC
(born April 29, 1929 in Oak Lake, Manitoba
) is a Canadian entrepreneur
and a former under-secretary general of the United Nations
. Strong's first name is pronounced "Mor'ris" with the accent on the first syllable.
Strong had his start as an entrepreneur in the Alberta oil patch and was president of Power Corporation of Canada
until 1966. In the early 1970s he was Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
and then became the first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada
from 1976 to 1978. He headed Ontario Hydro
, one of North America's largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of YMCA
s, and headed American Water Development Incorporated. He served as a commissioner of the World Commission on Environment and Development
in 1986. and is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a leader in the international environmental movement.
He was President of the Council of the United Nations's University for Peace
from 1998 to 2006. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to grant degrees at the masters and doctoral level. Today Strong is an active honorary professor at Peking University
and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.
, enduring serious poverty; his father was laid off at the beginning of the depression era and thereafter supported his family on odd jobs; his mother, overcome by struggle, succombed to mental illness and died in a mental hospital. He was born in Oak Lake, Manitoba
a small town on the Canadian prairie on the mainline of the Canadian Pacific.
where he took an interest in the oil business winning a transfer as an oil specialist to Richardson's office in Calgary
, Alberta
; there he made the acquaintance of one of the most successful leaders of the oil industry, Jack Gallagher
who hired him as his assistant. At Gallagher's Dome Petroleum
, Strong occupied several key roles including Vice President of Finance, leaving the firm in 1956 and setting up his own firm, M.F. Strong Management, which assisted investors in locating opportunities in the Alberta oil patch.
In the 1950s he took over a small natural gas company, Ajax Petroleum, and built it into what became one of the leading companies in the industry, Norcen Resources. This attracted the attention of one of Canada’s principal investment corporations with extensive interests in the energy and utility businesses, Power Corporation of Canada
. It appointed him initially as its Executive Vice President and then President from 1961 until 1966.
In 1976, at the request of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
, Strong returned to Canada to head the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada
. He then became Chairman of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, the holding company for some of Canada’s principal government-owned corporations.
in Alamosa, Colorado
for the right to pump underground water from the lands of the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4
and other lands in Saguache County, Colorado
in Colorado's San Luis Valley
and sell it to water districts in the Front Range Urban Corridor
of Colorado. The project was opposed by neighboring water rights owners, local water conservation districts, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources
, and the National Park Service
who alleged the project would affect others water rights and cause significant environmental damage to nearby wetland and sand dune ecosystems by reducing the flow of surface water. After a lengthy trial, Colorado courts ruled against AWDI and required payment of the objectors' legal fees, $3.1 million.
Strong first met with a leading UN official in 1947 who arranged for him to have a temporary low-level appointment, to serve as a junior security officer at the UN headquarters in Lake Success, New York
.
and Rene Dubos
. The report summarized the findings of 152 leading experts from 58 countries in preparation for the first UN meeting on the environment, held in Stockholm in 1972. This was the world's first "state of the environment" report.
The Stockholm Conference established the environment as part of an international development agenda. It led to the establishment by the UN General Assembly in December 1972 of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), with headquarters in Nairobi
, Kenya
, and the election of Strong to head it. UNEP was the first UN agency to be headquartered in the third world
. As head of UNEP, Strong convened the first international expert group meeting on climate change.
Maurice Strong was one of the commissioners of the World Commission on Environment and Development, set up as an independent body by the United Nations in 1983.
held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992. According to Strong participants at the Rio Conference adapted sound principles but did not make a commitment to action sufficient to prevent global environmental tragedy, committing to spend less than 5% of the $125 billion he felt appropriate for environmental projects in developing nations. He was seconded in that opinion by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
who stated to the delegates, "The current level of commitment is not comparable to the size and gravity of the problems,"
After the Earth Summit, Strong continued to take a leading role in implementing the results of agreements at the Earth Summit through establishment of the Earth Council, the Earth Charter
movement, his Chairmanship of the World Resources Institute
, Membership on the Board of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Stockholm Environment Institute
, The Africa-America Institute, the Institute of Ecology in Indonesia, the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
, and others. Strong was a longtime Foundation Director of the World Economic Forum
, a Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank, a Member of the International Advisory of Toyota Motor Corporation, the Advisory Council for the Center for International Development of Harvard University, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
, the World Conservation Union
(IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund, Resources for the Future, and the Eisenhower Fellowships. His public service activities were carried out on a pro bono basis made possible by his business activities, which included Chairman of the International Advisory Group of CH2M Hill, Strovest Holdings Inc., Technology Development Inc., Zenon Environmental Inc., and most recently, Cosmos International, and the China Carbon Corporation.
Strong lobbied to change NGO perspectives on World Bank
.
In 1999, at the request of then UN Secretary-General, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
, he took on the task of trying to restore the viability of the University for Peace
, headquartered in Costa Rica
, established under authorization of the UN General Assembly. The UN’s reputation was at risk as the organization had been subjected to severe mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and inoperative governance. As Chairman of its governing body, the Council, and initially as Rector, Strong led the process of revitalizing the University for Peace and helped to rebuild its programs and leadership. He retired from the Council in the spring of 2007.
From 2003 and 2005, Strong served as the personal envoy UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
to lead support for the international response to the humanitarian and development needs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
, evidence procured by federal investigators and the U.N.-authorized inquiry of Paul Volcker
showed that in 1997, while working for Annan, Strong had endorsed a check for $988,885, made out to "Mr. M. Strong," issued by a Jordanian bank. It was reported that the check was hand-delivered to Mr. Strong by a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who in 2006 was convicted in New York federal court of conspiring to bribe U.N. officials to rig Oil-for-Food in favor of Saddam Hussein
. Mr. Strong was never accused of any wrongdoing. During the inquiry, Strong stepped down from his U.N. post, stating that he would "sideline himself until the cloud was removed".
Shortly after this, Strong moved to an apartment he owned in Beijing. He said that his departure from the U.N. was motivated not by the Oil-for-Food investigations, but by his sense at the time, as Mr. Annan's special adviser on North Korea, that the U.N. had reached an impasse. "It just happened to coincide with the publicity surrounding my so-called nefarious activities." He insists: "I had no involvement at all in Oil-for-Food . . . I just stayed out of it."
, near the end of his term, paid the following tribute to Maurice Strong:
He has received 53 honorary doctorate degrees and honorary visiting professorships at 7 universities.
Among the honours and awards:
Other honours and awards include:
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
, CC
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, OM
Order of Manitoba
The Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...
, FRSC
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
(born April 29, 1929 in Oak Lake, Manitoba
Oak Lake, Manitoba
Oak Lake, Manitoba is a town in the south-western "Westman region" of Manitoba, Canada. It is located west of Brandon along the Trans-Canada Highway....
) is a Canadian entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and a former under-secretary general of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Strong's first name is pronounced "Mor'ris" with the accent on the first syllable.
Strong had his start as an entrepreneur in the Alberta oil patch and was president of Power Corporation of Canada
Power Corporation of Canada
Power Corporation of Canada is a Canadian company with assets in North America and Europe in a number of industries. These industries include media, pulp and paper, and financial services....
until 1966. In the early 1970s he was Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was an international conference convened under United Nations auspices held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16, 1972...
and then became the first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
. He returned to Canada to become Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada
Petro-Canada
Petro-Canada was a crown corporation of Canada in the field of oil and natural gas. It was headquartered in the Petro-Canada Centre in Calgary, Alberta. In August, 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, a deal in which Suncor investors received approximately 60 per cent ownership of the...
from 1976 to 1978. He headed Ontario Hydro
Ontario Hydro
Ontario Hydro was the official name from 1974 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario which was established in 1906 by the provincial Power Commission Act to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara...
, one of North America's largest power utilities, was national President and Chairman of the Extension Committee of the World Alliance of YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
s, and headed American Water Development Incorporated. He served as a commissioner of the World Commission on Environment and Development
Brundtland Commission
The Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development , known by the name of its Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was convened by the United Nations in 1983...
in 1986. and is recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a leader in the international environmental movement.
He was President of the Council of the United Nations's University for Peace
University for Peace
The University for Peace was established in Costa Rica in 1980 "to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence."At present, the UPEACE Costa...
from 1998 to 2006. UPEACE is the only university in the UN system able to grant degrees at the masters and doctoral level. Today Strong is an active honorary professor at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
and Honorary Chairman of its Environmental Foundation. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Research on Security and Sustainability for Northeast Asia.
Childhood and youth
Maurice Strong was a child of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, enduring serious poverty; his father was laid off at the beginning of the depression era and thereafter supported his family on odd jobs; his mother, overcome by struggle, succombed to mental illness and died in a mental hospital. He was born in Oak Lake, Manitoba
Oak Lake, Manitoba
Oak Lake, Manitoba is a town in the south-western "Westman region" of Manitoba, Canada. It is located west of Brandon along the Trans-Canada Highway....
a small town on the Canadian prairie on the mainline of the Canadian Pacific.
Business
In 1948, when he was nineteen Strong was hired as a trainee by a leading brokerage firm, James Richardson & Sons, Limited of WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
where he took an interest in the oil business winning a transfer as an oil specialist to Richardson's office in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
; there he made the acquaintance of one of the most successful leaders of the oil industry, Jack Gallagher
John Gallagher (geologist)
John Edward Patrick Gallagher, OC was a Canadian geologist and businessman. Born in Winnipeg, Gallagher attended the University of Manitoba. He became a petroleum geologist working for a number of multinationals in California, Egypt, Latin America and Canada searching for oil.In 1950, he...
who hired him as his assistant. At Gallagher's Dome Petroleum
Dome Petroleum
Dome Petroleum Limited was a Calgary-based petroleum producer in the Alberta oilfields. Jack Gallager joined a group of investors in Dome Exploration Ltd. in 1950 and built it into the major Canadian oil company Dome Petroleum Limited . Gallagher was the sole employee for the first two years...
, Strong occupied several key roles including Vice President of Finance, leaving the firm in 1956 and setting up his own firm, M.F. Strong Management, which assisted investors in locating opportunities in the Alberta oil patch.
In the 1950s he took over a small natural gas company, Ajax Petroleum, and built it into what became one of the leading companies in the industry, Norcen Resources. This attracted the attention of one of Canada’s principal investment corporations with extensive interests in the energy and utility businesses, Power Corporation of Canada
Power Corporation of Canada
Power Corporation of Canada is a Canadian company with assets in North America and Europe in a number of industries. These industries include media, pulp and paper, and financial services....
. It appointed him initially as its Executive Vice President and then President from 1961 until 1966.
In 1976, at the request of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
, Strong returned to Canada to head the newly created national oil company, Petro-Canada
Petro-Canada
Petro-Canada was a crown corporation of Canada in the field of oil and natural gas. It was headquartered in the Petro-Canada Centre in Calgary, Alberta. In August, 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, a deal in which Suncor investors received approximately 60 per cent ownership of the...
. He then became Chairman of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, the holding company for some of Canada’s principal government-owned corporations.
American Water Development
On December 31, 1986 American Water Development Incorporated (AWDI), a corporation controlled by Strong and his associates, filed an application with the District Court for Water Division 3Colorado Water Courts
The Colorado Water Courts are specialized state courts of the U.S. state of Colorado. There are seven Water Courts in each of Colorado's seven major river basins: South Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande, Gunnison, Colorado, White, and San Juan. The Water Courts are divisions of the District Courts in...
in Alamosa, Colorado
Alamosa, Colorado
The city of Alamosa is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 8,682 in 2005...
for the right to pump underground water from the lands of the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4
Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4
The Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4, south of Crestone, Colorado, was a large land grant made in 1860 by the United States to the heirs of the original Vegas Grandes Grant at Las Vegas, New Mexico. Title to the grant at Las Vegas was clouded by a second grant of the same land. The Baca heirs were...
and other lands in Saguache County, Colorado
Saguache County, Colorado
Saguache County is the seventh most extensive of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county name comes from a Ute language word meaning “blue earth” or “water at blue earth”. The county population was 5,917 at U.S. Census 2000...
in Colorado's San Luis Valley
San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is an extensive alpine valley in the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico covering approximately and sitting at an average elevation of above sea level. The valley sits atop the Rio Grande Rift and is drained to the south by the Rio Grande River, which rises in the San Juan...
and sell it to water districts in the Front Range Urban Corridor
Front Range Urban Corridor
The Front Range Urban Corridor is an oblong region of urban population located along the eastern face of the Southern Rocky Mountains in the U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming. The corridor derives its name from the Front Range, the mountain range that defines the west central boundary of the...
of Colorado. The project was opposed by neighboring water rights owners, local water conservation districts, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources
Colorado Department of Natural Resources
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources is the department of the government of the U.S. State of Colorado that is responsible for the development, protection, and enhancement Colorado natural resources for the use and enjoyment of the state's present and future residents, as well as for...
, and the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
who alleged the project would affect others water rights and cause significant environmental damage to nearby wetland and sand dune ecosystems by reducing the flow of surface water. After a lengthy trial, Colorado courts ruled against AWDI and required payment of the objectors' legal fees, $3.1 million.
United Nations work
Lake Success, New York
Lake Success is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 2,934 at the 2010 census.Lake Success is in the Town of North Hempstead on northwest Long Island. Lake Success was the temporary home of the United Nations from 1946 to 1951, occupying the headquarters of...
.
Stockholm Conference
In 1971, Strong commissioned a report on the state of the planet, entitled “Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet” and co-authored by Barbara WardBarbara Ward
Barbara Mary Ward , in later life Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of the world and in the 1960s turned her attention to environmental...
and Rene Dubos
René Dubos
René Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...
. The report summarized the findings of 152 leading experts from 58 countries in preparation for the first UN meeting on the environment, held in Stockholm in 1972. This was the world's first "state of the environment" report.
The Stockholm Conference established the environment as part of an international development agenda. It led to the establishment by the UN General Assembly in December 1972 of the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
(UNEP), with headquarters in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and the election of Strong to head it. UNEP was the first UN agency to be headquartered in the third world
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
. As head of UNEP, Strong convened the first international expert group meeting on climate change.
Maurice Strong was one of the commissioners of the World Commission on Environment and Development, set up as an independent body by the United Nations in 1983.
Earth Summit
His role in leading the UN’s famine relief program in Africa was the first in a series of UN advisory assignments, including reform and his appointment as Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Environment and Development—best known as the Earth SummitEarth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, Earth Summit was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.-Overview:...
held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992. According to Strong participants at the Rio Conference adapted sound principles but did not make a commitment to action sufficient to prevent global environmental tragedy, committing to spend less than 5% of the $125 billion he felt appropriate for environmental projects in developing nations. He was seconded in that opinion by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
who stated to the delegates, "The current level of commitment is not comparable to the size and gravity of the problems,"
After the Earth Summit, Strong continued to take a leading role in implementing the results of agreements at the Earth Summit through establishment of the Earth Council, the Earth Charter
Earth Charter
The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century...
movement, his Chairmanship of the World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
, Membership on the Board of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Stockholm Environment Institute
Stockholm Environment Institute
The Stockholm Environment Institute, or SEI, is a non-profit, independent research and policy institute specialising in sustainable development and environmental issues.-Mission:...
, The Africa-America Institute, the Institute of Ecology in Indonesia, the Beijer Institute of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
, and others. Strong was a longtime Foundation Director of the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
, a Senior Advisor to the President of the World Bank, a Member of the International Advisory of Toyota Motor Corporation, the Advisory Council for the Center for International Development of Harvard University, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development is a CEO-led, global association of some 200 international companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development....
, the World Conservation Union
World Conservation Union
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
(IUCN), the World Wildlife Fund, Resources for the Future, and the Eisenhower Fellowships. His public service activities were carried out on a pro bono basis made possible by his business activities, which included Chairman of the International Advisory Group of CH2M Hill, Strovest Holdings Inc., Technology Development Inc., Zenon Environmental Inc., and most recently, Cosmos International, and the China Carbon Corporation.
Strong lobbied to change NGO perspectives on World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
.
In 1999, at the request of then UN Secretary-General, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar y de la Guerra is a Peruvian diplomat who served as the fifth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1, 1982 to December 31, 1991. He studied in Colegio San Agustín of Lima, and then at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. In 1995, he ran unsuccessfully...
, he took on the task of trying to restore the viability of the University for Peace
University for Peace
The University for Peace was established in Costa Rica in 1980 "to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence."At present, the UPEACE Costa...
, headquartered in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, established under authorization of the UN General Assembly. The UN’s reputation was at risk as the organization had been subjected to severe mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and inoperative governance. As Chairman of its governing body, the Council, and initially as Rector, Strong led the process of revitalizing the University for Peace and helped to rebuild its programs and leadership. He retired from the Council in the spring of 2007.
From 2003 and 2005, Strong served as the personal envoy UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
to lead support for the international response to the humanitarian and development needs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
2005 Oil-for-Food scandal and hiring practice criticisms
In 2005, during investigations into the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food ProgrammeOil-for-Food Programme
The Oil-for-Food Programme , established by the United Nations in 1995 was established with the stated intent to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi citizens without allowing Iraq to boost its military...
, evidence procured by federal investigators and the U.N.-authorized inquiry of Paul Volcker
Paul Volcker
Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr. is an American economist. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and...
showed that in 1997, while working for Annan, Strong had endorsed a check for $988,885, made out to "Mr. M. Strong," issued by a Jordanian bank. It was reported that the check was hand-delivered to Mr. Strong by a South Korean businessman, Tongsun Park, who in 2006 was convicted in New York federal court of conspiring to bribe U.N. officials to rig Oil-for-Food in favor of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. Mr. Strong was never accused of any wrongdoing. During the inquiry, Strong stepped down from his U.N. post, stating that he would "sideline himself until the cloud was removed".
Shortly after this, Strong moved to an apartment he owned in Beijing. He said that his departure from the U.N. was motivated not by the Oil-for-Food investigations, but by his sense at the time, as Mr. Annan's special adviser on North Korea, that the U.N. had reached an impasse. "It just happened to coincide with the publicity surrounding my so-called nefarious activities." He insists: "I had no involvement at all in Oil-for-Food . . . I just stayed out of it."
UN Secretary General's tribute
Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi AnnanKofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, near the end of his term, paid the following tribute to Maurice Strong:
Honours and awards
Maurice Strong has received a number of honours, awards and medals.He has received 53 honorary doctorate degrees and honorary visiting professorships at 7 universities.
Among the honours and awards:
- 2005: He was Awarded the Order of ManitobaOrder of ManitobaThe Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...
the Highest Award in the Province of ManitobaManitobaManitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. - 2003: Public Welfare MedalPublic Welfare MedalThe Public Welfare Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." It is the most prestigious honor conferred by the Academy...
from the US National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
: First Non-US Citizen to receive the medal, 2007 - 2002 Simon Fraser UniversitySimon Fraser UniversitySimon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue - 2002: Carriage House Center on Global Issues: Candlelight Award
- 1999: Companion of the Order of Canada
- 1998 he was given the Order of the Southern CrossOrder of the Southern CrossThe National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...
by the Government of Brazil - 1996: Swedish Royal Order of the Polar StarOrder of the Polar StarThe Order of the Polar Star is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim....
- 1995: IKEA Environmental Award
- 1994: Asahi Glass Foundation Award: Blue Planet Prize
- 1994: Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding
- 1993: International St. Francis Prize for the Environment
- 1993: Alexander Onassis Delphi Prize
- 1997: Henri Pittier Order of Venezuela
- 1989: Pearson Medal of PeacePearson Medal of PeaceThe Pearson Medal of Peace is an award given out annually by the United Nations Association in Canada to recognize an individual Canadian's "contribution to international service". Nominations are made by any Canadian for any Canadian, excluding self-nominations. The award is named in honour of...
- 1981: Charles A. Lindbergh Award
- 1976: Officer of the Order of Canada
- 1975: National Audubon Society Award
- 1974: Tyler Environmental Prize
Other honours and awards include:
- The Brazilian National Order of the Southern CrossOrder of the Southern CrossThe National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I...
- Commander of the Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands)
- International Saint Francis Prize, Fellow
- The Royal Society
- Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
- Royal Architectural Institute of CanadaRoyal Architectural Institute of CanadaThe Royal Architectural Institute of Canada , founded in 1907, is a Canadian association representing over 3,600 architects, and faculty and graduates of Canadian Schools of Architecture.RAIC is the voice for architecture and its practice in Canada...
- Honorary Board Member, David Suzuki FoundationDavid Suzuki FoundationThe David Suzuki Foundation is an environmental organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada It is a non-profit organization that is incorporated in both Canada and the United States, and is funded by over 40,000 donors...
- Distinguished Fellow, International Institute for Sustainable Development
- John Ralston SaulJohn Ralston SaulJohn Ralston Saul, CC is a Canadian author, essayist, and President of International PEN.As an essayist, Saul is particularly known for his commentaries on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good; the failures of manager-, or more precisely technocrat-, led societies; the...
dedicated his polemic Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason In The West to Strong.