ECNC

Nationality: Dutch Position: Senior Programme Manager - Ecosystem and Species Management / Director Large Herbivore Network Contact: kampf@ecnc.org Education: Degree in Agriculture, Land Improvement and Nature Management, University of Applied Sciences (School for Forestry and Crop Management), Arnhem, the Netherlands. Background information: Hans is responsible for the development and implementation of

projects within the new ECNC programme Ecosystem and Species Management. He is currently focusing attention on the further development of the Large Herbivore Network, of which he is Director. This Network bundles specific expertise on all large herbivores in Eurasia and their relationship with ecosystems.

Until 1 July 2009 Hans worked as a senior policy advisor for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. He has extensive experience in nature management, nature development and ecological networks at the local, provincial, national and international (especially Central and Eastern Europe) levels. On 1 July 2009 he took up the position of Executive Director for the Large Herbivore Foundation (LHF) (www.largeherbivore.org). This foundation acts as the advocate of circa 45 species of (often very threatened) large herbivores in Eurasia. On 1 July 2010 the LHF joined the Biodiversity and Nature unit of the ECNC Group. LHF’s legacy will be carried forward in the form of the Large Herbivore Network.

Hans has given numerous talks in European countries, from Ireland and the UK to Ukraine, and as far away as Taiwan, on ecological networks and large herbivores. For many years he was the secretary of the Dutch Advisory Committee for veterinary issues in nature areas.

He tries to stimulate organizations to avoid getting bogged down in theory, and instead to translate paper into practice: ‘What’s impossible today might be possible tomorrow, and if not, next week …’. Until mid-2009 he was a long-time member and chairman of the Advisory Committee for Environment and Spatial Planning in his local community, for which he received the commemorative medal for nature and landscape. He is also honoured with the task of vice-president for the Kent Wildlife Trust and advisor to the steering committee for Knepp Castle, Horsham ‘Knepp Naturalistic Grazing Project’ (UK). He likes birdwatching and being in nature and is continually astonished at how beautiful and interesting nature is.