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Katalin
Czippán is Deputy Head of Department in the office of the
Parliamentary
Commissioner for Future Generations,
where she is responsible for environmental education, education
for sustainability and civil partnership issues.
Katalin
graduated as a teacher of mathematics and physics. She gained her
teaching experiences through preparing foreign students accepted
to Hungarian universities for the national requirements of
education. Later she assisted in coordinating the work of
scientific and technological services in the Hungarian Institute
of Culture. She was one of the initiator of integrating natural
sciences and environmental issues into the professional programs
of national institutes for culture and society.
Between
1986 and 1999 she was the head of the environmental education
workgroup, later, for ten years, the president and director of the
Göncöl
Foundation,
an environmental, conservationist, educational and cultural
Hungarian NGO. She was the publisher of “Természet”
(Nature), “Süni” (Hedgehog) and “Vadon”
national magazines; organised, led and developed further the
“Süni” nomad camp-system. Under her presidency,
the Göncöl joined IUCN, built a bicycle road along the
Danube, a nature trail in the flooded forest for educational
purposes, headed the preparation committee of Hungarian
environmental law, and several national and international projects
like territorial development planning in Szentendre Island or
Hudson to Danube Riverwatch environmental education project.
During that period she co-operated with the Community Organizing
Programme to train organizational and capacity building skills for
environmental NGOs and played an active role in establishing the
strong and still existing Hungarian environmental NGO platform,
its funding and electronic communication system.
From
2000, she served as a director for the Environmental Education and
Communication Program-me Office in Hungary, a governmental
institute whose task was to develop strategies and policies for
all types of education, and worked closely with NGO-s, schools,
business and governmental organisations to initiate and manage
national and interministerial projects in the field of
environmental education. She established and headed the
Environmental Education Committee of the Ministry of Education.
Katalin managed projects of the Higher Education for
Sustainability Programme office at Eötvös Loránd
University and The House of Professors to start a dialogue among
Hungarian universities on how to increase their role in education
for sustainability. She worked in several other committees and
working groups as well, such as the Hungarian Committee for
Sustainable Development, UNECE working group on Education for
Sustainable Development and the Education and Communication
Committee of the national Environmental Fund. Katalin is a member
of the Hungarian UNESCO Committee and a honorary member of the
Forest School Association. She was awarded with the Pro Natura
plaque by the Minister of Environment and Water in 2006. She is a
board member of the Hungarian
Society for Environmental Education
where she is responsible for international partnerships. She also
co-ordinates the Hungarian part of SUPPORT
network, and heads the international research and editorial team
on “Schools as learning centres for sustainability”.
Ms
Czippán has been a member of IUCN CEC since 2000 and was
invited to fill the CEC Regional Vice-Chair for Europe in 2007.
She has been supporting the participative communication and
education initiatives (CEPA, BEPA) since the beginning to draw the
key actors into planning and implementing conservation goals. She
has developed and conducted training workshops for
conservationists on topics such as CEPA in Mainstreaming
Biodiversity, developed concept papers, coached authorities and
published articles.
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John
Francis is Vice President for Research, Conservation, and
Exploration at the National Geographic Society, directing funding
of these disciplines through the Committee for Research and
Exploration, the Conservation Trust, and the Expeditions Council.
Francis also oversees the Society’s Center for Sustainable
Destinations and the Remote Imaging laboratory. His professional
career is rooted in wildlife biology and a deep belief in the
importance of conservation. He has fashioned his interests and
expertise into highly successful turns as a scientist, wildlife
filmmaker, and current leader of the Society’s storied
research and exploration arm.
He
began his professional career as a behavioral ecologist at age 19
and over the next fifteen years, studied more than half of the
seal and sea lion species living today. During this time he earned
a B.S. from the University of Washington (Magna cum Laude, Phi
Beta Kappa), a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa
Cruz, and spent five years as a postdoctoral fellow and research
associate at the Smithsonian Institution. His research took him
around the world to Australia, Canada, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand,
Hawaii, California, Alaska, and Argentina. This period also saw
Dr. Francis receive two research grants from the National
Geographic Society that allowed him to study the little-known Juan
Fernandez fur seal on the islands where the Robinson Crusoe tale
was born. This work led to a film on the subject, which captured
the interest of National Geographic and opened the door to
filmmaking.
For
John, the power of the film media to stir conservation action was
an attractive lure. He began a six-year stint with National
Geographic Television and Film in 1993, working on a variety of
subjects from chimps to tigers to coyotes. By the end of his
tenure, he was producing films closer to his expertise on blue
whales, seals, and sharks. He was also able, during this time, to
serve on the Committee for Research and Exploration, offering
expertise on marine mammal science and serving as a conduit to
National Geographic media.
In
1999, John became the Executive Director of the Committee for
Research and Exploration and led the creation of the Conservation
Trust in 2001 to focus grant making on identifying the most urgent
natural resource issues and working toward solutions. A
reorganization of Mission Programs in 2003 led to his appointment
as Vice President and the addition of the Expeditions Council,
NGS/Waitt Grants and Young Explorers Grants programs, the Remote
Imaging Lab, as well as the Center for Sustainable Destinations to
his responsibilities. He is particularly motivated in promoting
the concept of geotourism through the Center and making tourism a
force for conservation around the planet.
Outside
of his National Geographic Society responsibilities, John serves
on the US National Park System Advisory Board, the IUCN Commission
for Education and Communications, and the US National Commission
for UNESCO.
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