Juan Mayr has been Colombia’s Minister for the Environment since 1998. As Colombian representative to the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2000 he was elected Chair of its Eighth Session.

Born in Bogata in 1952, Mayr is a self-taught photographer and has published several books on Colombian pre-Hispanic cultures. In 1984 he published "La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta", that led to the creation of the Pro-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Foundation, of which he continues to be Executive Director.

Between 1993 and 1996, Mayr was elected vice-president of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). In 1998 he was designated Minister of the Environment of Colombia, a role which continues today. In addition to this he was elected President of the Extraordinary Session of the Convention on Biological Diversity 1999-2000.

Mayr has received a cavalcade of awards in recognition for his work: Dunning Award for the Conservation of Tropical Forests in Latin America (1990), Goldman Environmental Prize (1993), Colombian "National Prize for the Environment" (1993), and Holland’s "The Golden Ark Prize" (1998). In 1999 alone he was honoured with Spain’s degree of knighthood "Orden al Mérito Civil en el Grado de Caballero", "Democracy Order" from the Colombian Congress, and the Parker-Gentry Award from the Field Museum of Natural History of Chicago.