Governance
Board
The Eurosite Board is made up of 3-9 individuals. Members, Associate Members and non-members can be appointed to the Board. Each Board member brings in his or her own expertise. The tasks of the Board include running and representing the association, managing the capital of the association and devising and pursuing the policy of the association. The Board is responsible for the general management of Eurosite and promotes its interests.
Eurosite Board Members
Dr. Tilmann Disselhoff
President
Country: Germany
Tilmann Disselhoff is a nature conservationist by heart and by profession. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin and has received scholarships from the Robert Bosch Foundation, the German National Academic Foundation, and Berlin’s Elsa-Neumann-Scholarship programme for particularly qualified young researchers. Focusing on conservation financing and private land conservation, Tilmann has worked for numerous national and international organisations, such as the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, and the German Federal Environmental Foundation. In 2017, Tilmann joined NABU (Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union - the German chapter of Birdlife International) as the coordinator of a LIFE project to set up the European Land Conservation Network (ELCN).
Anita Prosser
Secretary & Twinning Ambassador
Country:United Kingdom
Anita Prosser was born and educated in the UK having spent her early years in West Africa. Following a degree in Botany and Zoology she worked in education and as a researcher for a wildlife film company.
Anita joined the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) in 1983 to set up training schemes for the unemployed. In 1988 she was appointed to set up and establish BTCV International activities. Anita worked in over 32 countries throughout the world, ran organisational training programmes in Central and Eastern Europe, Japan and Africa, helped to establish National Conservation Volunteer organisations and volunteered in many other existing environmental Organisations (NCVO). Following this she led the establishment of the Conservation Volunteers Alliance, a network to promote and give a voice to environmental volunteers in Europe and further afield.
Lately Anita has spent time focusing on European funding both for transnational work, influencing EU on its Volunteering policy, EU growth funds for the UK and chairing the European funding network on behalf of NCVO. She has worked with the UK Government to ensure that the voluntary sector has access and contributes to UK grow.
More recently Anita set up a small group to working on delivering training and material on working with volunteers in nature and running networks and events in relation to the natural environment such as the Outdoor Recreation Network and Europarc Atlantic Isles, the network for protected landscapes in the UK and Ireland.
Anita’s skills are in all aspects of managing an NGO, strategic and business development, all aspects of engaging with people and communities and European funding.
Alongside working Anita has, in a voluntary capacity, been a Board member of a number of European and local organisations especially in relation to protected areas and the environment.
Theo de Bruin
Treasurer
Country: The Netherlands
Theo thinks there is no better activity than walking out in the fields, enjoying landscapes and nature, hearing and seeing birds full of wonder about everything that grows and blossoms.
With these experiences in mind, he studied at Wageningen University and specialized in the field of recreation and nature-based tourism with a Master in Forest Economics, Sociology of Leisure and Environmental Psychology. Starting with a research on recreation in National Park De Hoge Veluwe, he worked on related topics as visitor management, design of nature experiences and concepts for visitor centres.
More recently, Theo has been working in order of Staatsbosbeheer to develop and/or reconstruct several visitor centers in the east part of the country. One of them was the new center in the Oostvaardersplassen, now part of the newest national park in the Netherlands (NP Nieuw Land). To enhance the outreach to the audience from the Oostvaardersplassen Visitor Center, the network Migratory Birds for People (MBP) was started, in co-operation with WLI.
Living in the floodplains of the river Waal, Theo actively connects visitors to the river and nature around his B&B. In his spare time he enjoys making music as well as roaming through the dynamic river landscape daily.
Rhys Jones
Country: United Kingdom
Rhys is the Conservation Land Management Leader with Natural Resources Wales (NRW). He has direct leader oversight of National Nature Reserves and Woodland Estates in South Wales and in his role as Chair of the Designated Sites and Estates Management Forum, Rhys is responsible for influencing all land management in Wales. During 2015-18, Rhys was NRWs Marine Fisheries Ecologist and manager of the Assessing Welsh Fishing Activities Project. This project was the first of its kind in Europe which assessed the impact of commercial fishing from a licenced and registered fishing vessel on receptors in the marine environment. The project centred around marine protected areas (MPAs) SACs, SPAs and RAMSARs and is believed to be the first project to assess impacts under Article 6.2 of the Habitats Directives. Previous to joining NRW, Rhys has held Fisheries Manager, MPA compliance and Science Manager roles in the Marine and Fisheries department and Agri-Environment Policy Scheme Leader for the Agriculture department in the Welsh Government. He estimates to have completed 300 Habitat Regulations Assessments and 150 Art 6.2 Assessments both under the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives. Living near the coast in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Rhys enjoys Surfing with the family in his spare time.
Stefan Versweyveld
Country: Belgium
Stefan’s interest in nature was first sparked when he was just six years old and at the age of eight he joined the local branch of Natuurpunt, the organisation he would later go on to work for. Stefan studied Biology at the University of Antwerp and after graduating in 1997 he immediately started to work as a professional biologist for Natuurpunt, writing management plans for their nature reserves (Natuurpunt manages around 1.5% of the entire surface of Flanders as a nature reserve). In 2003, Stefan joined the management of the organisation and since 2013 he has been the Head of the Projects and Grants Department, coordinating 60 projects on the restoration of nature, biodiversity, and heritage. Stefan also coordinates Natuurpunt’s European relations with other nature conservation organisations and public bodies.
Kyriakos Skordas
Country: Greece
Kyriakos has finished the School of Forestry & Natural Environment of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and has an MSc in Wildlife Management. He also holds a certificate of Human Resources Management by the Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since many years, he has been working in the fields of Forest Management, Wetlands and Range Management, Public Awareness, Wildlife Management, Environmental Education and stakeholders training. He is the editor of several publications and informative materials, as well as an author of and contributor to studies, papers, courses, congresses and magazines.
He has very good experience working with NGOs and stakeholders parities. His current job position is as Office & Game-warden Director in Hunting Federation of Macedonia & Thrace dealing mainly with wildlife protection, public awareness, and communication with state agencies, law enforcement and habitat improvements measures.
Kyriakos is also a member of the Boarding Council of UNESCO (Serres for Unesco, Greece) as Deputy of Environment, contributing in the collaboration of Local Authorities for the protection of natural and environmental heritage.
Considering that Environment is not only nature but everything that surrounds us, Kyriakos loves music and has his own radio show since 18 years in several radio stations in Greece.
Marina Škunca
Country: Croatia
Marina Škunca is a biologist-ecologist with primary experience in flora, vegetation and habitats. She graduated in 2010 at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, where in September 2015 she started her PhD studies – research of invasive alien plant species in riparian area of the Drava River. Marina is employed in Geonatura Ltd. as a Head of Terrestrial ecosystems research group, where she is working on different projects covering various floristic and conservation topics – from basic inventories, mapping and monitoring of flora and habitats; through ecosystem services assessment and area assessment from the aspect of biodiversity; to development of various action and management plans.
Marina has both national and regional experience as a co-author of EIAs and NIAs, assessing the impacts on biodiversity and natural heritage, as well as producing baseline habitat maps when needed. She is interested in ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions and citizen science, but her favourite topic still involves invasive alien plant species.
Naïk Faucon
Country: France
Naïk Faucon (MSc, PhD) has been Europe & International project leader at ATEN (Atelier technique des espaces naturels) for 16 years. ATEN, a full member of Eurosite since the creation of the network in 1989, is among the five French organisations that have merged in 2020, into the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB, Office Français de la Biodiversité). Focusing on capacity development, her numerous missions abroad have enabled Naïk to comprehend nature conservation issues, the diverse range of stakeholder networks and professionals involved in the management of protected areas, and the requirements and subtleties of European and international cooperation.
Miquel Rafa
Country: Spain
Miquel Rafa is a Biologist specialized in nature conservation, with over 30 years experience working for conservation NGOs in Catalonia and at the international level (DEPANA, WWF, IUCN, EUROSITE, UIAA, etc.). He’s the Director of Territory and Environment at the Foundation Catalunya-La Pedrera, where he has worked since 1998. The Foundation is the largest land trust in Catalonia and helps to protect a network of 27 natural sites, visited by more than 400.000 people per year. Furthermore, it manages two environmental education centres, in the Pyrenees and in the Ebro Delta.
He is a member of the Nature Conservation Council of Catalonia and of the World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN - WCPA), he was the first president of the Catalonia’s Network of Land Stewardship, currently Network of Nature Conservation, where he now serves as International Commissioner. He also has collaborated in numerous radio and TV programmes as a communicator on nature and travels around the globe.
As a passionate birdwatcher and alpinist, Miquel has climbed many peaks in the Pyrenees, Alps, Andes and Himalaya, and has travelled to many natural areas over the world in search of wildlife and wild lands.
Council
The Eurosite Council is made up of representatives from countries covered by the Eurosite network. The Council members meet twice a year to discuss Eurosite business. The Council supervises the policy as pursued by the Board and approves all policy plans, business development plans, the annual budget, Annual Accounts and the Annual Report. The Council also appoints the Board members, including the President, Secretary and Treasurer of Eurosite.
Bohdan Prots
Country: Ukraine
Bohdan is a Senior Research Scientist who obtained his PhD in 1997 and a winner of the Whitley Award for Nature Conservation (2007). Currently, he is is the CEO and Director of the Danube-Carpathian Programme in Ukraine and is an expert in conservation biology, plant ecology, conservation and protected areas management, species and habitats management, plant invasion, floodplain ecology and restoration ecology, and nature protection policy. Furthermore, he has 30 years of experience in research studies in biodiversity and natural resource management in various countries in Europe as well as Asia, 17 years of experience in managing international projects on nature conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources in the Danube-Carpathian Region. Bohdan worked as the leader of WWF Ukraine for more than 11 years and is the part-time Head of Department of the Landscape and Biota Diversity, State Museum of Natural History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv, Ukraine.
Carlotta Maggio
Country: Italy
Carlotta has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Wildlife Management from Reading University in the UK. After a thesis and field work on the ecology of a population of Eagle Owls in Spain she returned to Italy to join WWF Oasi as a project officer working on projects in WWF Italy protected areas. During the years she has worked on several aspects of nature reserve management, working closely with the over 40 WWF nature reserves. She coordinates daily management activities, national and international conservation projects, management plans, communication projects and nature reserve events both at a local and national level. Currently she coordinates daily management activities of the 40 nature reserves WWF Oasi manages, protected area events and WWF Oasi’s communication projects.
Christophe Lépine
Country: France
Christophe is an editor in chief for the French television. He discovered the Conservatoires d'espaces naturels when making a report about some sites a few decades ago. He then became a volunteer for the Conservatoires, which are one of the most important NGO's in France, managing natural sites. The Conservatoires have over 10000 members, and 1000 employees who are employed everywhere in France. He became the president of the Conservatoire d'espaces naturels des Hauts-de-France in Northern France. Since 2019, Christophe is also the president of the national federation of Conservatoires.
Debbie Kamphuis
Country: Netherlands
Eva Katrana
Country: Greece
Eva has a Biology MSc. from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. Her main projects focus on environmental education and ornithology. For the last 13 years she has been working at Thermaikos gulf Protected Areas Management Authority organising environmental education programs (working with thousand students and teachers) and coordinating monitoring programs for wild birds. The protected area of Axios delta feels like home to her, where she can spend endless hours in the field, monitoring wild birds.
Ion Munteanu
Country: Romania
Mr. Ion MUNTEANU was born on 13th October 1956 in Tulcea, Romania. He graduated from the Faculty of Food Industry and Fisheries Technics at the “Lower Danube” University in Galati and has a master degree in Sustainable development and biodiversity protection from the Technical University in Cluj, Romania.
He enjoyed an over-26 year career within the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority where he gained extensive first-hand experience in the nature management. Currently he is the Governor of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, the largest wetland in Romania and included in the UNESCO international network of biosphere reserves.
Additionally he participates in many international projects financed by the European Union programs, such as the Danube Transnational Programme, LIFE Program, Joint Operational Programme Romania-Ukraine-Republic of Moldova, etc.
Ion has expertise in, amongst others, the following subjects:
- Species conservation
- Community-based conservation
- Protected areas and Natura2000 management
- Advocacy and policy for species and protected areas
- Best practices in natural resources management
- Collaborative decision analysis and population ecology of migratory species
- Fisheries management projects
- Assessment of fishing activity
- Fishing Techniques
- Tracking the status and evolution of renewable natural resources
- Establishing optimal limits for exploiting the natural resources
- Monitoring of the sustainable exploitation of renewable resources and areas
- Monitoring of the parameters that characterize the natural habitats
- Monitoring of the biodiversity and the implementation of the management plans for the strictly protected areas.
Ion has had a long interest and involvement in the Eurosite network and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority is a member of the Eurosite network.
Kazimierz Rabski
Country: Poland
Kazimierz Rabski has a PhD degree as a physical-geographer. He has been working in the nature conservation sector since 1989, including nearly 5 years as Director of one of the Polish National Parks (Słowiński NP) and the next 5 years being the head of the department responsible for the international cooperation of the Polish National Parks at the Ministry of Environment.
Since 2002 Kazimierz has been working as independent consultant and expert in many state and business bodies responsible for the sustainable development and nature management of coastal areas. He is the Chairman of the Society for The Coast (EUCC-Poland), an NGO that is involved in active nature management and was the founder of Odra Delta Nature Park, the first large-scale active nature protection initiative in Poland, managed by an NGO. He has been associated with Eurosite since 1996.
Kazimierz is also known as TV programme and filmmaker, and producer of more than 230 broadcasted productions.
Kevin Feytons
Country: Belgium
Kevin graduated in Nature and Forestry education in 2010 in Belgium. Since 2011 he has been working for Natuurpunt, the biggest nature NGO in the Flemish part of Belgium. First as a team leader of the professional workers, later on as a field biologist to make management plans and coordinate nature restoration works for several Flemish and European projects. Through this work, he has become very experienced in Flora and habitat monitoring.
Apart from his professional career, Kevin is also active as a volunteer to manage some nature reserves in his neighbourhood and he is often outside looking for interesting nature scenes as a passionate nature photographer.
Lefkios Sergides
Country: Cyprus
Lefkios completed his BSc at the Department of Biology at the University of Patras in Greece. Afterwards, he went for a master’s study at Lancaster University (2004-2006) and got an MSc in Environmental Science.
Between July 2006 and August 2007, he worked as a full-time policy officer in BirdLife Cyprus. In August 2007 he was hired at the Government where he worked as an Environment Officer in the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment.
In November 2010 Lefkios started working as a Conservation Officer at Terra Cypria - the Cyprus Conservation Foundation. In May 2015 he was promoted to Deputy Director – EU Policy coordinator and as of January 2017 he is the Executive Director of the Foundation.
Nick Edwards
Country: United Kingdom
Nick has been working ‘outdoors’ for most of his life, obtaining an apprenticeship with the coppice association in 1992, working throughout England and wales with the few remaining fulltime coppice workers. Managing broadleaf woodlands for products and biodiversity Nick joined with the bioregional charcoal company and WWF to make sustainable charcoal for many large retailers in the uk, to help promote the dying trade and the importance of sustainable woodland management. Nick spent time working on farms and in the forestry before being employed as an estate worker for the Countryside council for Wales. During this time, he was responsible for the practical management of some of Wales finest national nature reserves, being responsible for delivering the management across dozens of SSSI and SAC features, including SPA, Ramsar and Natura 2000 habitats. For over 20 years nick has been responsible for the management planning, the delivery and monitoring of NNR’s in south, west and mid wales, from the coast to the Mountains, and everything in between. Nick currently works for natural Resources Wales, and besides his day job managing Nature reserves and Welsh estate government woodlands, he also is a qualified drone pilot and undertakes a vast array of remote sensing and monitoring work from forest for NRW and inter agency work. Working from the bottom up Nick has a grounding in practical management through to planning, delivering and maintaining designated sites, with this knowledge he hopes to give a prospective into ‘on site’ delivery the practicalities and the logistics of Nature conservation works.
Patrick Nuvelstijn
Country: Netherlands
Stanislav Brezina
Country: Czech Republic
Xavier Escuté
Country: Spain