James Gustave Speth is Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Professor in the Practice of Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development. He was Founder and President of the World Resources Institute; Professor of Law at Georgetown University; Chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality; and Senior Attorney and Co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council. 
 
Speth has been deeply involved in a number of projects for the United Nations, most recently serving as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the United Nations Development Group. Among his awards are the National Wildlife Federation’s Resources Defense Award, the Natural Resources Council of America’s Barbara Swain Award of Honor, a 1997 Special Recognition Award from the Society for International Development, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Environmental Law Institute, and the Blue Planet Prize. His publications include Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment; Worlds Apart: Globalization and the Environment; and articles in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Environmental Science and Technology, the Columbia Journal World of Business, and other journals and books.