Our history
Our agency was created in 1993 by the Act Establishing a Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfNG). However, the history of nature conservation under the auspices of the state in Germany goes back many years earlier. Following the emergence of a number of associations for the conservation of nature in the late 19th century, the first state nature conservation agency of the Prussian State was established in 1906.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1906 | Establishment of the Staatliche Stelle für Naturdenkmalpflege in Preußen (Prussian State Agency for Natural Heritage Preservation) in Danzig (present-day Gdańsk) – the beginning of official nature conservation in Prussia. Tasked with recording, studying and advising on natural treasures, the agency moved to Berlin in 1911. |
| 1922 | Publication of the first issue of the Naturschutz (‘Nature Conservation’) journal. This was the forerunner of Natur und Landschaft (‘Nature and the Landscape’), which is published by BfN to this day. |
| 1935 | Re-established as the Reich Agency for Nature Conservation (later placed under the Reich Forestry Office). |
| 1945 | Establishment of the Central Office for Nature Conservation (from 1949 onwards the Central Office for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management) in Egestorf. |
| 1952 | Establishment of the Federal Institute for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management in Bad Godesberg, Bonn. |
| 1962 | Merged with the Federal Centre for Vegetation Cartography (established 1953) and renamed the Federal Centre for Vegetation Ecology, Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (BAVNL). |
| 1976 | Renamed the Federal Research Centre for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology (BFANL) to emphasise the agency’s scientific focus. |
| 1986 | Establishment of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on 6 June in response to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on 26 April in Ukraine. The new ministry combined policy areas from the agriculture, interior and health ministries. BFANL now came under the remit of the new Environment Ministry. |
| 1990 | Integration of parts of the former (East German) Institute for Landscape Research and Nature Conservation (now BfN Leipzig); assigned administration of the Isle of Vilm. Establishment of the International Nature Conservation Academy on the Isle of Vilm. |
| 1993 | Three years after German reunification, the Federal Research Centre for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology (BFANL) re-established as today’s Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), with Prof. Dr. Martin Uppenbrink appointed BfN’s first President. Supplemented with new divisions and responsibilities taken over from the Federal Office of Food and Forestry and the Federal Office of Economics, BfN now additionally enforces the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). |
| 1999 | Appointment of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Vogtmann as BfN President. |
| 2006 | Anniversary: 100 years of nature conservation as a public responsibility. |
| 2007 | Prof. Dr. Beate Jessel appointed BfN President. |
| 2016 | Establishment of a separate Marine Nature Conservation Directorate on the Isle of Vilm. |
| 2020 | Establishment of the National Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring to strengthen nationwide biodiversity monitoring and safeguard such monitoring for the long term. |
| 2021 | Appointment of Sabine Riewenherm as BfN President. |