Juan Mayr has dedicated his life to the environment. His commitment to environmental issues started when he first visited the Ecoregion of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the northeastern Caribbean coast of Colombia. This area, characterized by its great cultural and environmental complexity, as well as its political, socioeconomic and environmental problems, represents a micro-universe of the Colombian reality. Mr. Mayr promoted and became the first Executive-Director of the "Fundación Pro Sierra de Santa Marta" (Pro-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Foundation).

Mr. Mayr later became a member of the World Conservation Union where he promoted processes of decentralization and regionalization within the organization. In addition, he started the recognition of National and Regional Committees, and the establishment of Regional Congresses. During the World Conservation Union Congress in Montreal (1996), these new mechanisms were adopted as bylaws. In August 1998, the President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana, appointed Mr. Mayr Minister of the Environment. Mr. Mayr began his work at the Ministry promoting a national participation process for the formulation of the National Environmental Plan "Proyecto Colectivo Ambiental" (Environmental Collective Project).

Among his many accomplishments, Juan Mayr has participated as President of the Extraordinary Session of the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Cartagena on February 1999, and as Chairman of the VIII session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in 2000. He also chaired the High level Segment of the Second Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests on March 2002.

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