Achim A. Halpaap is Principal Coordinator of the Program in Chemicals, Waste, and Environmental Governance at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

The Program, which he initiated in 1990, has to date assisted more than 130 countries in implementing international agreements concerned with chemical risk management and environmental democracy, including the Rotterdam Convention, the Stockholm Convention, and the Aarhus Convention. At UNITAR, Achim guides and manages a team of some 15 legal and technical professionals and experts to support Program activities. He is a member of the Executive Committee for the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), Vice Chair of the International Co-ordinating Group on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) and a member of the United Nations Environmental Management Group (UN EMG). Achim is currently on a part-time secondment to Yale University where he is a Research Affiliate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES) and Project Director for the UNITAR/Yale Environment & Democracy Initiative which is hosted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

Prior to his appointment with UNITAR, Achim Halpaap was Head of Section, Chemical and Waste Management Policies, at the Environmental Policy Directorate of the Bayer Corporation, Germany in 1990. During 1988-1989, he held an appointment as Lecturer in the International Studies Department of the University of Oregon, where he developed and taught an interdisciplinary graduate level course on ‘Global Environmental Issues’. In 1985, he worked for the international department of the National Wildlife Federation, Washington D.C. Achim is author and directed the development of several peer-reviewed international publications concerned with international chemical risk governance, international environmental policy, and democratic environmental governance. He has extensively lectured on these topics in various international, national and academic fora. Achim holds degrees from Yale University (M.Ph `04.), the University of Oregon (M.A. ‘88), and the University of Bonn (B.Sc. `84). He is currently a PhD candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he conducts research on the interrelationship of public participation rights and environmental sustainability in the new South Africa.

Further Information:
UNITAR-Yale Environment and Democracy Initiative