Klaus Töpfer was born in 1938 in the German city of Waldenburg, today part of Poland. He studied economics in Mainz and Frankfurt and earned his doctorate at the University of Münster in 1968. After serving as government official, professor and adviser on development politics he became Minister for the Environment and Health in the regional government of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1985. In 1987 Töpfer became German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. From 1994 to 1998 he served as Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Civil Engineering and Urban Development. In 1998 Töpfer was appointed Under Secretary General of the United Nations, General Director of the United Nations office in Nairobi and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. In June 2006 he was succeeded in this office by Achim Steiner.