Members of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) voted yesterday to re-elect Jouni Nissinen, Head of the Environmental Policy Unit at the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, as the organisation’s new president.

The vote took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, where the EEB is holding its annual conference and general meeting with its member organisations and board.

The EEB is Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organizations with around 140 organisations in more than 30 countries.

Jouni Nissinen will continue to lead the organisation for the next 12 months after a successful year in which he shared the presidency with Mikael Karlsson, Senior Researcher at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and already President of the EEB for the past 11 years.

Jouni is the Head of the Environmental Policy Unit at the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, and has been an EEB Board member since 2008, Vice President since 2012 and EEB President since 2016.

He has experience working on all of the most pressing environmental issues in Finland and the Arctic, most notably Agenda 2030 and sustainable development as well as mining and waste.

On an international level, he follows the UN discussions on the environmental pillar of Agenda 2030, and was the Western European civil society regional representative to UNEP.

He said:

“From climate change and biodiversity loss to air pollution and environmental governance, European citizens are confronted with a number of challenges that require unity and solidarity. In the coming months, I will work hard to help the EEB bring together citizens, organisations and institutions from all over Europe, giving them a platform and a voice to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.”

EEB members also voted unanimously to elect former President Mikael Karlsson as Honorary Member of the organisation.