Former UN Special Envoy Erik Solheim Joins SAFN as Distinguished Senior Fellow

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 22, 2025 – The South Asia Foresight Network (SAFN) is delighted to announce that Erik Solheim, renowned diplomat, peace negotiator, and UN global environmental leader, has joined SAFN as a distinguished Senior Fellow. With decades of experience across South and Southeast Asia, including India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, and Indonesia, Solheim brings unparalleled expertise and insight to the SAFN community.

Currently serving as the President of the Belt and Road Green Development Initiative in China, Solheim continues to play an instrumental role in shaping sustainable development initiatives worldwide.

“As a global leader with deep expertise in navigating complex socio-political environments, Erik Solheim’s association with SAFN will enhance our research capacity to address the pressing challenges of the South and Southeast Asian region,” said Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Executive Director of SAFN. “We are honored to welcome him as a distinguished Senior Fellow of the SAFN Belt & Road Initiative Center”

SAFN, a regional network of the Millennium Project based in Washington, D.C., is a rapidly growing network dedicated to advancing multidimensional research in South and Southeast Asia. It brings together individuals, think tanks, and institutions committed to fostering foresight and innovation across the region

Mr. Solheim served as Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme between May 2016 and November 2018. Prior to joining UN Environment, Solheim was the chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In this capacity, Solheim emphasized the role of private sector and tax in development finance, spearheading the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership and the Addis Tax Initiative. Solheim also focused on the need to channel more aid to least-developed countries, and bring new members and partners to the Development Assistance Committee.

From 2007 to 2012, Solheim held the combined portfolio of Norway’s Minister of the Environment and International Development, and from 2005 to 2007 served as Minister of International Development. This unique portfolio mixture allowed him to bring a coherent approach to development and the environment.

During his time as Minister, Norwegian aid reached 1 per cent, the highest in the world. Solheim also put into place the Nature Diversity Act, which many consider to be Norway’s most important piece of environmental legislation in the last 100 years. The Norwegian Climate and Forest Initiative, in which Norway cooperates closely with Brazil, Indonesia, Guyana and other countries to conserve rainforests, was also established under Solheim. This initiative provided critical input to the establishment of UN REDD, the global coalition to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.

Solheim is also an experienced peace negotiator, having acted as the main facilitator of the peace process in Sri Lanka from 1998 to 2005. The peace process led to a ceasefire and the Oslo Declaration in 2002, where parties welcomed a federal state in Sri Lanka. He continued to lead peace efforts in Sri Lanka as Minister, and has contributed to peace processes in Sudan, Nepal, Myanmar and Burundi.

In addition to his role in government and international development, Solheim served has UN Environment’s Special Envoy for Environment, Conflict and Disaster and a Patron of Nature for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. He has also received a number of awards for his work on climate and the environment, including UN Environment’s Champions of the Earth award, TIME Magazine’s Hero of the Environment, and an honorary doctorate from TERI University in Delhi, India. He has also written three books: Den store samtalen, Naermere, and Politikk er a ville.

Solheim holds a degree in history and social studies from the University of Oslo. He is married with four children.