Martin Uppenbrink

Martin Uppenbrink (born October 5, 1934 in Bielefeld ; † October 11, 2008 in Berlin ) was a German lawyer and environmental expert and from 1994 to 1999 the first president of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation .

Life

Uppenbrink was the son of the interpreter and translator Walter H. Uppenbrink and his wife Helene geb. Neuhaus. He began his school education in Berlin. After the war and the subsequent move to Hesse , he continued to attend school there and then passed his Abitur on February 24, 1955 at the Realgymnasium, later the König-Heinrich-Schule , in Fritzlar , where he was head of school in 1954/55 .

In May 1955 he began studying law at the University of Tübingen , where he studied for two semesters. At the University of Heidelberg , two more semesters. He then completed a semester at the University of Marburg and then returned to Heidelberg. On June 5, 1959, he passed the examination for the first state examination. In autumn 1963 / beginning of 1964 he passed the assessor exams .

In February 1963 he received his doctorate as Dr. jur. with the topic The German stock exchanges as corporations under public law . At that time he was working as a court trainee in Fellbach . In October 1964 he moved to the legal department of Telefunken AG in Berlin. At the beginning of April 1965 he went to the Cologne Regional Finance Directorate as a finance assessor .

In 1968 Uppenbrink moved to the Federal Ministry of the Interior as a consultant for both the central department and the culture and sport department. In 1971 he became head of the policy department for environmental protection and environmental policy. In 1974 he moved to the newly founded Federal Environment Agency in Berlin as head of the environmental planning and ecology department, and was instrumental in establishing it. In 1983 he was appointed honorary professor for environmental law at the Free University of Berlin .

From 1989 he was European Director at the United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP ) in Geneva and was involved in the preparations for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro . On January 3, 1994, he became President of the newly established Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn and then organized the office with its 240 employees. A year later, together with the then Federal Environment Minister Angela Merkel, he presented the first red list of natural spaces and habitats valid for the entire German state .

After his retirement in 1999, Uppenbrink was involved in the development of the national park program as a nature conservation advisor to the government of Azerbaijan . He was also a member of the board of trustees of WWF Germany and the Succow Foundation .

The Federal Environment Minister said in a statement:

“As the first President of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Martin Uppenbrink, with his knowledge and international experience, has contributed to a modern understanding of nature conservation, which is characterized by ecological as well as social and economic aspects. The high reputation that the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation enjoys today both nationally and internationally is also due to him. At an age when other people withdraw to their old age, Martin Uppenbrink set a great example with his commitment to the expansion of a national park program in Azerbaijan. I have great respect for this drive and this love for nature "

- Sigmar Gabriel

Martin Uppenbrink's grave is located in the south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf .

Fonts (selection)

• The German stock exchanges as corporations under public law , Heidelberg 1964
• Organization of environmental planning in the USA , Berlin 1974
• Current legal issues of environmental protection with others, Heidelberg 1981
• Commentary on the Chemicals Act , Stuttgart 1981ff.
• International harmonization of terms in environmental chemicals control law with Jürgen Knebel, in: Environmental policy and law, 10 (2) April 1983, pp. 47-52
• Sustainable development of the Lake Baikal region: a model territory for the world with VA Koptiug, Berlin 1996
• Political Perspectives of International Environmental Protection , 1997
• Conservation of the biological diversity as a prerequisite for sustainable development in the Black Sea Region: [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Conservation of the Biological Diversity as a Prerequisite for Sustainable Development in the Black Sea Region, Batumi, Republic of Georgia, October 5 - 12, 1996] with V. Kotlyakov and V. Metreveli, Dordrecht 1998

Web links

• Obituary by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Personal information in his dissertation from February 1963.
2. ↑ Martin Uppenbrink, inaugural dissertation for obtaining a doctorate from the law faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 1963
3. ^ Munzinger archive
4. ↑ Walter Habel: Who is who? Lübeck, 2006
5. ↑ PUGASMAOS Project (English) ( Memento of the original from December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ WWF Annual Report 2007 (PDF; 5.0 MB)
7. ↑ Succow Foundation ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.