The Heinz Sielmann Stiftung is an established German nature conservation foundation, founded by well-known German wildlife filmmaker and conservationist Professor Heinz Sielmann and his wife Inge Sielmann in 1994. The foundation provides nature experiences for all ages, conserves biodiversity, operates environment and nature learning centers, and houses the historic films of its founder Heinz Sielmann.
It focuses on the restoration and preservation of diverse landscapes such as forests, swamps and wetlands, lakes, grassland, former mining and military sites. With forests being the naturally-predominant type of landscape in Central Europe, its work is strongly focused on sustainable and ecological forest management and landscape restoration of the forests and its ownership. The Heinz Sielmann Stiftung aims to preserve important ecosystem services provided by intact forests and undertakes crucial steps to enhance the biodiversity of the local flora and fauna, and protect water reserves and soil.
In 2017, the Heinz Sielmann Stiftung started to extend its nature forest conservation, sustainable forest use and education involvement to the African continent with focus on Ethiopia and Uganda in partnership with strong international and local partners. Its core business, both in Ethiopia and Uganda, is reforestation and rehabilitation of degraded landscapes to help prevent aero-fluvial soil erosion, fire and flooding. It focuses on indigenous tree and plant species to create new habitats for the local flora and fauna, increase biodiversity and make the landscape richer in structure and more resilient against climate change – thereby also securing the livelihood of future generations.
The foundation also plays an active role in knowledge and learning through courses and educational projects for conservation of intact ecosystems and the sustainable use of natural resources through its international projects.
Resources / Media to share
Publication on wilderness in Germany: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138117302972
Various videos and photo galleries: https://www.sielmann-stiftung.de/film-bild/ and here https://www.sielmann-stiftung.de/film-bild/heimische-tiere/. The Heinz Sielmann Stiftung is currently working on an English version of its website; English content is currently not available but will be soon.
https://www.sielmann-stiftung.de/