The Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme is implemented by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) - the central scientific authority of the German federal government for both national and international nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC) support the programme.

The programme complements the range of national and international workshops and seminars on nature conservation topics offered by the Agency’s International Nature Conservation Academy with a fellowship programme for early-career conservation professionals. Dr Klaus Toepfer, the former UNEP Director, has agreed to serve as patron for the programme.

The Klaus Toepfer Fellowship Programme takes an integrated approach to the development of the personal capacity of early-career conservation professionals. It combines technical learning, management training and network development support. The programme puts high-potential individuals into the centre of capacity development, while closely cooperating with delegating institutions and promoting the participants’ commitment and contribution to them. The programme’s modules will be conducted in English.

Having started in March 2012, the programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through the Advisory Assistance Programme for Environmental Protection in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. For further information on the Advisory Assistance Programme, please visit the website of the German Federal Environment Agency and download the programme’s brochure
( English version,  Russian version).