Programme for future leaders in nature conservation

Over the course of 2012 and 2013, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), in close cooperation with the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), ran the first part of a young leadership programme on nature conservation for future decision makers from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region and Central Asia. The Klaus Töpfer Fellowship Programme was financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and aimed at meeting the existing demand for young leaders in nature conservation from the countries in the above mentioned regions by sharing long-standing experiences from Germany and the European Union in this field.

In the course of the programme, several 2-week training seminars were conducted over a period of 18 months at the BfN’s International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA) on current nature conservation topics. The training seminars were designed as extra-occupational courses that integrate management instruments and nature conservation issues, strengthening the participants’ abilities to deal with current nature conservation challenges in their countries. These challenges include those such as decreasing biodiversity or improving implementation of multilateral nature conservation agreements.