Goran Trivan was born in 1962 in Kladovo. He graduated and got PhD degree at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade.

He was appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports in 1991. He continued his professional career at the public enterprise "Srbijašume", as the Director of the Bureau for Design, Planning and Development, and was later promoted to the position of the Executive Director of the mentioned company.

He served as Belgrade city government Secretary for Environmental Protection from 2008 until his appointment as the Minister of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia in  June 2017.

He is president of the Academic cultural-artistic society "Ivo Lola Ribar" from Belgrade.