Change of leadership at WWF-DCPO

Michael Baltzer, director of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme (WWF-DCPO) since 2005, left the organisation in July 2009 to head WWF's global tiger conservation efforts based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is replaced at WWF-DCPO by Andreas Beckmann, who had been serving the organisation as Deputy Director since 2005.

Mike Baltzer oversaw significant development of WWF's work in the Danube-Carpathian region, including a doubling in staff and budget, the establishment of new WWF organisations in Romania and Bulgaria as well as development of new activities in the Ukrainian Carpathians and in Serbia. At the same time, WWF-DCPO pushed into new areas of activity, engaging more closely with the private sector and searching for economic mechanisms to support nature conservation. Awareness raising and public mobilisation became a major focus for WWF's work in the region, with major nationwide campaigns developed in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. 

The work initiated by Baltzer will continue in coming years. "Our aim for the next 5 years is to continue the work begun in recent years -- to strengthen our national profiles and presence in the region, deepen our engagement with the private sector and step up our efforts to reduce the growing ecological footprint in the region, especially from energy and carbon emissions," Beckmann said. WWF-DCPO will continue ongoing efforts to ensure effective protection and management of protected areas, protect and restore wetland areas within the Danube basin and preserve Europe's last major stands of old growth forest.

A major challenge remains to ensure that the major successes achieved in the region, from the establishment of protected areas to the development of new funding sources for nature protection, are implemented in practice and not just on paper. The protected area systems are still weak, with those in Romania and Slovakia even facing collapse. Many of the protected areas of the region are threatened by developments, many of them illegal, including e.g. illegal construction of ski facilities in Pirin and Rila National Parks in Bulgaria.

"The challenges facing us with regard to environnment and nature conservation are the same ones facing these societies more generally -- establishment of the rule of law, effective governance and administration and an active and engaged civil society and citizenry. In this sense, our work  is about much more than 'just' securing many of Europe's last remaining outstanding natural treasures -- it is about the future shape of these societies," Beckmann remarked.

Mike Baltzer came to WWF-DCPO as Conservation Director in 2004, bringing with him rich experience with conservation work from across the world, particularly from Africa and Southeast Asia. He moved to Vienna from Vietnam, where he headed WWF's large-scale conservation efforts in the forests of the Mekong ecoregion. He holds degrees in conservation and environmental studies.

Andreas Beckmann has been living and working in the Danube-Carpathian region since 1991. He came to WWF in 2001 to lead the organisation's efforts to engage with and prepare for the accession of Central and Eastern European countries to the European Union. Prior to WWF, he led development and communications for the Environmental Partnership foundations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. He holds degrees in history, political science and international relations from Stanford University and Swarthmore College as well as a WWF certificate in conservation leadership.