Renowned environmental campaigner Tony Juniper has been appointed as the first President of the Society for the Environment.
Juniper joins the Society for the Environment to help the organisation in its mission to champion the role of environmental professionals and the Chartered Environmentalist qualification.
Juniper is an established face on the environmental circuit having been the director of Friends of the Earth in England, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2008 and the vice chair of Friends of the Earth International from 2001 to 2008.
He has also written a series of books covering various ecological issues, holds a number of positions with diverse institutions as well as being a regular media commentator on environmental matters.
Upon his appointment Juniper said: “As the number of people working in the environmental sector grows, it is vital that Chartered Environmentalists are recognised as professionals in their own right, whatever their role. It is very pleasing to be working with the Society for the Environment to champion professionalism in the environmental sector.
“The Society fulfils a vitally important role by setting the standards for professionals working across a range of sectors. It has shown how professional bodies from widely different can work together on a common agenda.
“I look forward immensely to working with the Society.”
Society for the Environment chief executive Alex Galloway said: “To have somebody of Tony’s calibre as our President will help us take the status of Chartered Environmentalists to a new level of recognition and reach into new areas.”
The Society for the Environment, which received a Royal Charter in 2004, is the body which awards and sets the standards for the Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) qualification in the UK. The Chartered Environmentalist qualification is available to members of the Society’s 23 partner organisations. These partners include a diverse range of membership bodies which share a common vision of delivering sustainability through environmental professionalism.
