Léon Lippens

Bust of Léon Lippens in the Zwin nature reserve

Léon Anne Marie Ghislain Graf Lippens (born September 6, 1911 in Beernem , † June 16, 1986 in Knokke-Heist ), commonly known as Léon Lippens , was a Belgian politician , ornithologist and conservationist .

Life

Lippens was the son of the forest scientist Raymond Lippens (1875-1964) and his wife Ghislaine Félicie Marie Joséphine Cornélie de Béthune (1889-1969). His father was raised to the nobility in 1921 and had the title of Jonkheer . In November 1936 Léon Lippens married his great niece Suzanne Lippens (1903–1985), with whom he had two daughters and two sons. His son Leopold Lippens (* 1941) has been elected mayor of Knokke-Heist several times since 1979 and his son Maurice Lippens (* 1943) was a businessman and banker with the Fortis Group . His daughter, Elisabeth Comptesse Lippens (* 1939), had been married to Ferdinand von Bismarck (1930–2019) since 1960 . His daughter Mary (* 1937) was married to the painter Roger Nellens for the first time. His father-in-law was the minister and politician Maurice August Lippens (1875-1959), who was given the personal title of Count in 1936 and transferred it to Léon Lippens in 1949.

After studying humanities at the Abdijschool van Zevenkerken , Lippens completed a law degree at the Catholic University of Leuven , where he received his doctorate in 1934 . He then traveled to the Belgian Congo to manage a plantation owned by the Lippens family. However, he mainly used his stay to observe wild animals in the nearby Albert National Park . From 1935 to 1936 he was deputy curator in the National Park Administration of the Belgian Congo. After his return to Belgium in July 1936, he published several books in which he described the animals and landscapes that he got to know during his stay in the Congo.

Before the local elections in October 1946, Léon Lippens founded the Gemeentebelangen party (group of communal interests), whose candidates wanted to end the conflict between the Catholics and the Liberals that had started before the war. Nevertheless, the Liberals ran their own electoral list . The Gemeentebelangen party received six of the eleven seats. After much hesitation (he wanted to go back to the Congo), Lippens accepted the mayor's office.

From 1947 to 1966 Lippens was mayor of Knokke until he had to resign because of a heart disease. His successor was the doctor Eugène Mattelaer. Lippens remained on the city council until the end of his mandate in early 1971.

In 1952 Lippens founded the Zwin nature reserve in Knokke (since 1971 Knokke-Heist). He put a lot of time and effort into this protected area and was also active nationally and internationally for nature management and nature conservation. It was the first nature reserve in Belgium and comprises 158 hectares of the salt water tidal area on the Belgian-Dutch border.

Lippens published several books on birds and nature reserves, often in collaboration with nature photographers.

Memberships

From 1933 to 1986 he was a member of the Royal Saint-Hubert Club de Belgique, where he edited the publication Notes ornithologiques . From 1935 to 1950 Lippens was Secretary General of the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP). From 1939 to 1980 he was a member of the Higher Hunting Council of Belgium, most recently deputy chairman of the Flemish High Hunting Council. From 1945 to 1984 he was a Belgian member of the International Council for the Conservation of Hunting and Game (CIC, Conseil International de la Chasse et de la Conservation du gibier). In 1951 he was co-founder, then chairman and finally honorary chairman of the non-profit organization Belgische Natur- Vogelreservaten (BNVR).

Honors and Dedication Names

In June 1972 he was awarded the Jean Delacour Gold Medal of the International Council for Bird Preservation by Prince Philip . In February 1974 he was appointed an officer in the Order of the Golden Ark by the Dutch Prince Bernhard for his services to the protection of migratory birds in Europe and for the creation of the Het Zwin nature reserve . In September 1975 he received the Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire medal from the French Société nationale de protection de la nature (SNPN). In May 1985 he was made an honorary member of the WWF . He was the first Belgian to receive this honorary title.

Michel Louette and Alexandre Prigogine named in 1984, the subspecies Geokichla guttata lippensi of Natal throttle in honor of Leon Lippens.

Fonts (selection)

• De Watervogels van Kivoe , 1937
• Momentopnames bij de Dieren in de Wildernis , 1938
• Kivi snapshots. Photographs taken between June 1935 and June 1936 in the district of the Albert National Park , 1938
• De Watervogels van België , 1941
• De Vogels in België , 1948
• Al onze Vogels in Kleur , 1950
• Les oiseaux d'eau de Belgique , 1954
• (with Henri Wille ) Atlas van de Vogels in Belgium in Western Europe , 1972
• (with Henri Wille) De Vogels van Zaïre , 1976
• (with Henri Wille) Uitzonderlijke Vogels in België en West-Europa , 1986

literature

• Curriculum Vitae Graaf Leon Lippens (PDF; 376 kB, Dutch)