Henrique Brandão Cavalcanti has represented Brazil as President of the WHO’s Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety since 2000. Formerly he was Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development during its Third Session in 1995.

Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1929. He graduated in civil engineering from McGill University, Canada, beginning his career as an engineer and he becoming partner of ECOTEC- Economia e Rngenharia Industrial S.A. (1959-1964). He lectured at both at the Federal University and the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro.

Involvement with the Brazilian federal government led to positions as Deputy Minister of Mines & Energy (1967-69) and Deputy Minister of the Interior (1969-1974). At this time Cavalcanti began his involvement in international environmental diplomacy as a delegate to the UN Conference on the Human Environment (1972) and the World Population Conference (1974).

Roles in industry have included: Managing Director of electric power utilities in Southern Brazil (1965-67), assistant to the President of ELETROBRAS (1975), Chairman and CEO of the Brazilian Steel Corporation (1978-1985), Managing Director of the International Environmental Bureau in Geneva (1986-89), and Director for Environment of the CAEMI Group (1990-93).

Returning to the Federal Government in 1994 he was appointed Minister of Environment and the Amazon, leading to his appointment as CSD Chair in 1995 and designation to serve as President of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety.

Other appointments currently held include membership of the Brazilian Metals Association, the Brazilian Standards Association, the National Independent Commission on Oceans, and the Commission on Sustainable Consumption (Oxford University), as well as Board Member of the Brazilian Municipal Administration Institute, the FUNATURA Foundation, and the Iwokrama International Centre For Rain Forest Conservation and Development (Guyana). HE is also trustee of the LASPAU program at Harvard University, Director of the Marine Stewardship Council (UK), and Senior Adviser to the Global Environment Facility.