Joke Waller-Hunter

Who was Joke Waller-Hunter?

Joke Waller-Hunter was a Dutch United Nations official who worked on several environmental issues including the Kyoto Accord.

She was born Joke Hendrina Hunter in Haarlem, daughter of Cornelis Hunter and Hendrina van Smalen. She studied French and, as a student in 1969, married Herman Waller, of the old patrician family Waller from Nijkerk, who died at the age of 48 in 1991. She started working for the province of North Holland, and after that for many years at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. Her efforts at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 drew much attention, and even earned her the moniker Dutch Maffia amongst opponents of a treaty.

She was the first UN Director for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, a position which she served from 1994-1998. From 1998 to 2002 she was director of the OECD Environment Directorate. She then joined the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as Executive Secretary.