Kumi Naidoo

Kumi Naidoo (born 1965 in Durban, South Africa) is a South African environmental and human rights activist and director of Greenpeace since November 2009. He is the first African to the top of the organization.

In his early years he struggled against apartheid in South Africa, which in 1986 led to his arrest, and forced him into exile in 1989. Later he was active in the global fight against poverty, and in different international organizations ( Civicus, Global Campaign for Climate Action ( GCCA ), Clinton Global Initiative, Amnesty International, World Economic Forum, UNIFEM). He was one of the founders in 2005 of GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty, see Your voice against poverty).

He received his Ph.D. in political science at Magdalen College, Oxford.