HNEE intensifies strategic cooperation with partners in the Biosphere Reserves Institute
Yesterday, the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), Nationale Naturlandschaften e. V. and the Michael Succow Foundation signed a partnership agreement for further cooperation following the biosphere.centre. From now on, all three partners will contribute their expertise to the Biosphere Reserves Institute (BRI).
From left to right: Jan Peters, Managing Director of the Michael Succow Foundation, Prof Dr Matthias Barth, President of HNEE and Peter Südbeck, Chairman of Nationale Naturlandschaften e. V. seal their continued cooperation in the BRI
The meeting also provided an opportunity to talk about achievements and future plans and to introduce the BRI team.
Back in 2017, HNEE entered into a partnership with the Michael Succow Foundation and Europarc Germany to promote biosphere reserves. This resulted in the biosphere.centre. This laid the foundation for a competence centre for comprehensive support and further development within the framework of the UNESCO programme "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB).
In 2019, the Biosphere Reserves Institute (BRI), a scientific and interdisciplinary institution of HNEE, was founded with the support of Nationale Naturlandschaften e. V. and the Michael Succow Foundation as part of a funding programme of the state of Brandenburg[1]. The BRI supports UNESCO biosphere reserves on their way to becoming model regions for sustainable development. The areas of education, research and further training form the main pillars of this work. Within the institute, these are the international Master's degree programme in Biosphere Reserves Management, a graduate college and a research group.
On 21 November 2022, Dr Ana Filipa Ferreira took over the management of the BRI. She takes over from Uli Gräbener, who has helped establish the BRI since its foundation. Born in Portugal, she has previously conducted research on biosphere reserves and is now looking forward to contributing to the further development of the competence centre and its global network. She studied biology as well as management and conservation of natural resources at the University of Évora (UE) and the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (UL) and completed her doctorate on biosphere reserves. After her PhD, she worked as local manager for innovation and education projects of the EIT Climate-KIC at the NOVA School of Science and Technology of the NOVA University of Lisbon.
Prof. Dr Pierre L. Ibisch, Professor of Nature Conservation at HNEE and one of two scientific directors of the BRI, said at the signing of the contracts: "With the two partners, we are strengthened on our way to jointly promote the idea and effective management of UNESCO biosphere reserves. With the new Managing Director Dr Ana Filipa Ferreira, we are taking a significant step forward both professionally and in terms of our international networking."
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[1 ] The BRI is implementing the Innovation and Career Centre (Innovations- und Karrierecenter, IKC) "Process design for the implementation of biodiversity-preserving land use - focus on biosphere reserves (ProBio-LaB)", which was approved and funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, MWFK) of the State of Brandenburg in April 2019, with the aim of establishing biosphere reserves as a research focus at HNEE. However, the establishment of the institute is independent of this funding and is designed for the long term
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