Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 2. July 2021: BfN’s International Academy for Nature Conservation and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) have released a set of training materials on ‘Other effective area-based conservation measures’ (OECMs), to support awareness raising and capacity building. The training materials result from many years of cooperation between the two organizations. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 28. June 2021: From June 7-10, the third ESP Europe Regional Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) took place in Tartu, Estonia. The International Nature Conservation Academy Insel Vilm (INA) of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) was involved with a session on “Natural environments, ecosystem services and public health in a time of crisis”. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 2 June 2021: At the invitation of the International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm (INA) of the Gernan Federal Agency for Nature Consveration, the University of Tübingen and the University of Kiel, around 50 interested participants discussed conflicting goals and opportunities for cooperation between nature conservation and agriculture at the digital 19th Vilm Summer Academy from May 17 to 20, 2021. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 24. February 2021: Nature-based solutions (NbS) have received more attention in recent years. From 10 to 24 February 2021 the GIZ Sector Programme “Conservation of Biodversity on Land”, the GIZ Sector Network Rural Development Asia and Pacific (SNRD) and the INA of the BfN, organized with the support of adelphi, four half-day online training sessions to facilitate networking among GIZ staff and partners in the region Asia-Pacific on concepts of NbS. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 4 February 2021: IPBES concluded in its Global Assessment 2019 that current international activities to address biodiversity loss are insufficient. A fundamental "transformative change" is needed to restore biodiversity and protect nature, it said. The INA of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, GIZ GmbH and KfW Entwicklungsbank organised a training seminar on this topic for German development cooperation experts from 25 January to 3 February 2021. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 20 January 2021: The Institute for Biodiversity Network (ibn) presented the results of a survey in January that show which capacities need to be developed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia so representatives of the region can better participate in the processes of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) supported the report and the underlying project and provided technical support. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 12 January, 2021: The cultural and spiritual values of nature are of high importance for nature conservation in protected areas. The IUCN Best Practice Guidelines on Promoting the Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Area Management and Governance, published today, provide guidance on how to consider the cultural and spiritual values attributed to sites within protected areas. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 26 October 2020: 18 students from different disciplines in the field of agricultural sciences and nature conservation came to Vilm from all over Germany from 14 to 18 October for the main module of the university course "Agricultural Management and Biodiversity". Some students took part digitally due to the Corona Pandemic. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 22. October 2020: This week, an expert meeting on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning Conservation and Restoration of the Bukhara Deer took place. The meeting was jointly organized by the CMS Secretariat and the INA, with funding from the BMU. Due to the Corona pandemic the meeting was held via online conference and covered four time zones. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 20 September 2020:

In September, around 120 protected area experts from around the world discussed the further development and application of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Green List. The virtual meeting also approved 13 new Green Listed Sites.

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Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 16 September 2020: In the stimulating conference atmosphere of the International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm (INA), 24 forest experts from Germany and Switzerland met at the invitation of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) from 17 to 20 August to discuss ways of adapting our forests to climate change. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 14 September 2020: Experts from various disciplines met on 10 and 11 September to discuss current activities at the interface between biodiversity and climate. The trans- and interdisciplinary meeting "Biodiversity and Climate - Networking the Actors in Germany" has been held annually since 2004 at the International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm (INA) of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 1 September 2020: 20 nature conservation experts from 13 countries joined the Klaus Toepfer Fellowship (KTF) last week. The International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA) of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is offering the 18-month extra occupational training programme for the fifth time. The first part of the programme takes place online due to the corona pandemic. more

Putbus/Insel Vilm, 26 June 2020: After 65 years, migratory wildlife species in Mongolia have been able to use a newly established crossing to access previously blocked habitat. The International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm from BfN was involved in the intensive consultation process with all stakeholders, which was the basis for implementing these changes. more

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 24 June 2020. Northward bound: in mid-May Cornelia Paulsch, Ph.D. has taken up her new role as head of the staff unit "International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA), Administration Isle of Vilm". In this role, the biologist is responsible for the Academy’s activities, the conceptual and strategic development of the INA and the administration of the Isle of Vilm branch office of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. more 

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 7 April 2020: Spider expert Dr. Christoph Muster made a rare discovery last week on the isle of Vilm: He was able to confirm the presence of the spider species Atypus affinis on the island. According to the biologist, the last evidence of this species in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern dates back more than 30 years.
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Bonn /Isle of Vilm, 01 April 2020: Species-rich cultural landscapes can best be preserved when nature conservation and agriculture go hand in hand. Demonstration farms for biodiversity are a good example. To ensure that this succeeds on a broad scale, stakeholders from agriculture and nature conservation jointly drew up five requirements at a workshop organised by the BfN at the INA in November 2019.
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Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 31 March 2020: In March, the International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm (INA) in cooperation with the Institute for Agro-ecology and Biodiversity (IFAB) invited 18 students to Göttingen for the two-day introductory module of the university course "Agricultural Management and Biodiversity".
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Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 6 March 2020: 25 international students from various German universities took part in an education programme on international nature conservation on the Isle of Vilm, in the week of 23 to 29 February. The module offered by the International Academy for Nature Conservation (INA) is integrated as a compulsory or optional module in 17 master's courses at eleven German universities.
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Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 6 February 2020: At the invitation of IUCN and INA, 42 experts discussed how guidelines on the quality and effectiveness of protected areas can be incorporated into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The outcome paper of the workshop with concrete targets, minimum requirements, indicators and measurement methods will be fed into the international CBD negotiations.

Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 30 January 2020: Nature conservation experts from Germany and Mongolia discussed the prospects for nominating the Mongolian steppe as a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 26 to 27 January at the INA. As part of a project with the aim of securing the ecologically important steppes of Eastern Mongolia in the long term, the Michael Succow Foundation (MSF) invited to this expert workshop.
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Putbus/ Isle of Vilm, 15 January 2020: In January the writer Daniela Danz spends almost two weeks on the Isle of Vilm near Rügen Island and will experience the untouched and rough nature of the Baltic Sea island in winter. The writing residency at the International Academy for Nature Conservation is donated by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) as part of the German Prize for Nature Writing.
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Tbilisi, 29/10/2019. Graduates of the Klaus Toepfer Fellowship (KTF) came together from 25 to 29 October 2019 in Georgia g. The aim of the meeting organized by BfN was to strengthen the alumni network and to further expand capacities of the conservationists.
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Putbus/Isle of Vilm, 26/10/2019. Around 300 visitors defied the rainy weather on 12 October 2019 and accepted the invitation of the branch office of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation to an autumn walk on the Isle of Vilm. There the guests had the opportunity to walk around the northern part of the island on their own and learn more about the island.
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Bonn, 21/10/2019. The "Infoportal Kirchenland" has emerged from a cooperation between the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the German Nordkirche (the Lutheran Church of Northern Germany) and the Michael Succow Foundation. It provides information on how areas owned by the Nordkirche can be managed in a way to promote biodiversity, and is intended to help curb the decline in biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
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47 experts from all over Europe gathered in a workshop on Vilm Island (14.-18.10.2019) in preparation of the 23rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-23) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). They discussed the documents which will be negotiated at SBSTTA-23
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Vilm, 24/09/2019. In a work meeting held from 23 to 24 September 2019, the INA Advisory Council discussed the direction the academy is to take in the coming years. The president of the BfN, Prof. Beate Jessel, presented the development of BfN and INA in recent years.
The focus of discussions were the medium-term work programme and its relation to global developments, challenges and opportunities, particularly in the focal regions of the INA.
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Vilm, 19/09/2019. In September, the INA, in cooperation with the Institute for Agroecology and Biodiversity (IFAB), organised the four-day event "Nature Management on Agricultural Land - University Course for the Interface of Agriculture & Nature Conservation/Ecology". Eighteen students from all over Germany studying different disciplines in the field of agricultural sciences and nature conservation came to Vilm to learn how they can successfully cooperate with farmers in their future careers as nature conservation agricultural advisors.
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Vilm, 10/09/2019. Every year, young professionals from Asia, Africa and Latin America who work in environmental protection and nature conservation in their home countries receive scholarships from UNEP, UNESCO and BMU for a postgraduate training in environmental and nature conservation management at the Centre for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management (CIPSEM) at the Technical University Dresden.
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Vilm, 10/08/2019. Experts from diverse countries working for the German development cooperation came together in August 2019 for an intense workshop on ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change (EbA). The seminar addressed the fast growing interest and demand for such projects.
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The IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Task Force on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures hosted its 4th meeting of experts on Vilm Island (Germany) from 11-15 June 2019. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation Germany (BfN).
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German Nature Writing Award 2019 goes to Daniela Danz and Martina Maria Kieninger

Vilm, 29.08.2019 In 2019, the publishing house Matthes & Seitz Berlin will for the third time donate the German Prize for Nature Writing, endowed with 10,000 €, which is awarded annually to selected German-language authors. This year two authors will again be awarded the prize. The recipients in 2019 are Daniela Danz and Martina Maria Kieninger. A three-week writing stay on the Isle of Vilm at the International Academy for Nature Conservation of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, donated by the Federal Agency, is part of the prize. During their stays next year, the prizewinners will use the inspiring nature and beauty of the island for their own work and give public readings on Vilm.

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Application for the fifth cycle of the Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme is now open. The extraoccupational training provides conservation professionals from Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, essential technical knowledge as well as vital leadership skills and options for network building.

 Additional information on the programme

The National Natural Heritage stands for the initiative of the Federal Government to exempt federal-owned land of high nature conservation value from privatisation and to transfer it free of charge to the federal states, nature conservation organisations. Some of the NNE areas have remained with the Federal Government.
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From Mid-June, the writer Sabine Scho will be inspired by the wild nature and graceful beauty of the Isle of Vilm for a total of three weeks. The writing visit is part of the German Prize for Nature Writing and is donated by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).
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Gland, June 04 2019
Actors involved in the initiation of cross-border protected areas can now download training documents and adapt them for their own workshops. The materials are intended to support actors in the planning, initiation and institutionalisation of such areas.
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Vilm, 02.05.2019 Year after year in spring, before the first soft green leaves of the beech trees and oaks of the forest of Vilm unfold, a magical miracle takes place on the small Baltic Sea island. Under the first warming rays of the spring sun, a charming carpet of flowers spreads on the forest floor.
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The Target 11 Partnership aims to facilitate the achievement of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 by October 2020 through decentralized implementation of focused actions, in a concerted manner, with comprehensive coordination among all relevant partners. 10 regional implementation support networks have been established to coordinate and align national activities, bring partners together and identify gaps and opportunities so that maximum possible progress is achieved.
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On 24 April 2019, Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, and Beate Jessel, President of the BfN, met in Bonn at the BfN premises and agreed to strengthen their collaboration.

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Between 8 and 12 April 2019, Vilm became a forum for Privately Protected Areas when a seminar jointly organized by the IUCN WCPA Specialist Group on Privately Protected Areas and Nature Stewardship and the International Academy for Nature Conservation took place here.
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This week, a joint workshop on the Saiga antelope of the Bonn Convention (CMS), the Washington Convention (CITES) and the BfN took place on Vilm.
Representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as veterinarians and scientists used the meeting to exchange about current population trends, threats and conservation approaches for the Saiga.
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