Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher is Director General of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority and Councillor at the World Future Council. He received his PhD in 1969 and is Ethiopia’s first plant ecologist. Most of his working life has been in academia, and he has been the Dean of Science at Addis Ababa University and President of Asmara University. He also served as Director of the Ethiopian Conservation Strategy Secretariat. During the 1990s Dr. Egziabher put much of his energy into negotiations at the various biodiversity-related fora, especially the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the FAO. During this time, he built up a strong group of well-prepared African negotiators who began to take the lead in the G77 and China Group. Africa came out with united, progressive positions such as no patents on living materials and the recognition of community rights. In 1999-2000, Dr. Egziabher’s leadership of the Like-Minded Group in the negotiations of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety succeeded against strong US and EU opposition to protect biodiversity, human health and traditional and community rights. Similarly, he led the African Group in the negotiations of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. He received the Right Livelihood Award in 2000 and UNEP’s Champion of the Earth Award in 2006 for his work on environmental protection and on community rights.