Heike Vesper (born 1970) is a German biologist and is the director of the marine program at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Germany. She is committed to conservation of endangered marine species and reducing the use of plastic packaging.
Life Vesper studied biology with a focus on marine biology and ecology in Bremen, Germany, with stations in Amsterdam and Jordan.Peter Torkler, "Baltic Sea Conservation Foundation"Heike Vesper "WWF Blog – Heike Vesper" She has worked with WWF Germany since 1999 and became the director of the International WWF Centre of Marine Conservation in Hamburg, Germany, in 2011.Digital, Life, Design "DLD – Heike Vesper" She has also served as the chairwoman of the board of directors of The Baltic Sea Conservation Foundation (baltcf) between 2014 and 2018. She was succeeded by Alfred Schumm after she stepped down as board member and chair.Foundation News "New Chairman appointed", "baltcf", 10/9/18
In her capacity as a marine conservation expert, Vesper has advocated the conservation of overexploited marine species and the reduced use of plastic.Nigel Williams "Battle lines deepen to save bluefin tuna", "Current Biology", August 2009 In 2015, Vesper, along with Dr. Monica Verbeek (executive director of Seas at Risk) and Francisco J. Marí (Brot für die Welt), wrote a joint document,"Healthy Oceans are our Future",Heike Vesper, Monica Verbeek, Francisco J. Marí, "Healthy Oceans are our Future: Key ocean proposals to the G7", April 2015 which outlined ocean proposals to the G7. She has spoken at the Digital Life Design Conference (2019),Cody Pope, "Vector’s CEO Ganter Leads Session on Ocean Plastics and Calls for Perception-Reality Alignment at DLD Munich", "Vector Center", 1/22/19 the Fashionsustain conference (2019),"Fashionsustain 2019" , and NEONYT BMBF Forum for Sustainability (2017)."BMBF Forum For Sustainability (2017)" In December 2018, she was featured in the Valeur Magazine issue 29, aimed at highlighting the stories of heroines of everyday life."Valeur Magazine Issue 29", December 2018 On several occasions, Vesper has called for more action by the European Union in tackling the issue of plastic pollution in the ocean and has called for a "Paris Agreement for the Ocean" to combat ocean pollution.Markus Grabitz, "Too much plastic waste: EU wants to ban straws: What is behind the plastic ban?", "Der Tagesspiegel", 05/28/18"How Germany's environment minister plans to turn around plastic use", "The Local", 11/26/18"WWF report: Record levels of microplastic in the Mediterranean", "barfi.ch", 6/8/18 Vesper is a contributing writer on the blog of WWF Germany.
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