IUCN strives to mobilise its wide networks of experts, members and partners to support the conservation of natural World Heritage sites. You can help us in our mission in several ways, by supporting our work, reaching out to explore partnerships, contributing to the IUCN World Heritage Outlook, or submitting information on latest threats to natural World Heritage sites.
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IUCN World Heritage Team
IUCN's work on World Heritage is coordinated by the World Heritage Team, part of the IUCN Centre for Conservation Action. The World Heritage Team also works with a network of thematic and regional World Heritage focal points embedded in other IUCN teams. Our work on World Heritage is supported through technical expertise of IUCN's international network of experts, including the IUCN World Heritage Panel and the WCPA Vice-chair for World Heritage.
Tim Badman
Head IUCN World Heritage Team
Tim Badman is Director of the World Heritage Team at IUCN, having served as Director of the IUCN World Heritage Programme since 2009 and Director of the IUCN Nature-Culture Initiative in 2019-2020. He is chair of the IUCN World Heritage Panel and heads IUCN’s delegation at World Heritage Committee meetings. Tim joined IUCN having worked as team leader of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, UK. This role culminated in inscription of the site on the World Heritage List in 2001, and the subsequent development of the World Heritage programme on-site. He has been involved in many World Heritage site evaluation and monitoring issues globally.
Head IUCN World Heritage Team
Tim Badman is Director of the World Heritage Team at IUCN, having served as Director of the IUCN World Heritage Programme since 2009 and Director of the IUCN Nature ...
Mizuki Murai
Senior Programme Coordinator World Heritage
Mizuki joined IUCN in 2015 and oversees IUCN’s work on World Heritage. She is the deputy head of IUCN’s delegation at World Heritage Committee meetings, and is the contact point on World Heritage matters. In her previous position in the team, she specialised in the monitoring the state of conservation of natural sites in Asia, East and Southern Africa and North America, and was the thematic lead on industrial commitments including extractives, infrastructures, renewable energy as well as on impact assessments. Prior to joining IUCN she worked for several national and international organisations in Central Africa, Central America and Europe, focusing on protected area management and wildlife monitoring. Mizuki is currently based in Cambridge, UK.
Senior Programme Coordinator World Heritage
Mizuki joined IUCN in 2015 and oversees IUCN’s work on World Heritage. She is the deputy head of IUCN’s delegation at World Heritage Committee meetings ...
Katherine Zischka
World Heritage Conservation Officer
Since 2019, Kathy coordinates IUCN’s statutory Advisory Body work on monitoring the state of conservation of natural and mixed World Heritage sites under the World Heritage Convention. She has experience in a range of environmental conservation areas including marine research, international environmental law, ecotourism, policy and management. Kathy has worked in non-government organisations, ecotourism, government and academia including in Australia, Europe and the Pacific, and is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). She has a BSc (Hons) in marine and environmental biology and Master of environmental management, with a focus on international environmental governance.
World Heritage Conservation Officer
Since 2019, Kathy coordinates IUCN’s statutory Advisory Body work on monitoring the state of conservation of natural and mixed World Heritage sites under the ...
Clemens Küpper
Programme Officer, Nominations and Strategy
Clemens Küpper joined IUCN in 2020 as Evaluations and Operations Officer for the World Heritage Programme. He is responsible for coordinating the technical evaluation of new candidate sites nominated to the World Heritage List, as part of IUCN’s role as advisory body on natural World Heritage. He coordinates IUCN’s “upstream” support, provided directly to States Parties before the preparation or submission of a nomination. Before IUCN, Clemens worked at UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris, where he monitored the state of conservation of natural and mixed World Heritage sites in Europe and North America in close cooperation with IUCN. He studied geography in Bonn, London and Edinburgh and speaks German, English and French.
Programme Officer, Nominations and Strategy
Clemens Küpper joined IUCN in 2020 as Evaluations and Operations Officer for the World Heritage Programme. He is responsible for coordinating the ...
EXPERTISE:
Indigenous peoples
World heritage
Paul Ngafack
World Heritage Monitoring Officer
Paul Ngafack is the World Heritage Monitoring Officer at IUCN. He is the regional focal point for West & Central Africa and North America. Before joining IUCN, Paul was the Programme Coordinator for African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization, Sub-Regional Project Officer with Birdlife International and most recently he was Technical Support for Africa at the Secretariat of Ramsar Convention. Paul is a member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group and a former member of the Advisory Committee of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Paul holds a B.Sc in Zoology, and an M.Sc in Applied Ecology and Wildlife Management. He has also attended the Marine Conservation Summer Institute at Duke University in the United States.
World Heritage Monitoring Officer
Paul Ngafack is the World Heritage Monitoring Officer at IUCN. He is the regional focal point for West & Central Africa and North America. Before joining IUCN ...
Eugene Jo
Programme Coordinator - World Heritage Leadership
Eugene Jo is the Programme Coordinator for the joint IUCN/ICCROM World Heritage Leadership Programme. She joined ICCROM in 2017 and is based in Rome. Her main tasks include coordinating various activities for the overall programme, such as integrating the Resource Manual on managing natural and cultural World Heritage and Disaster Risk Management, and enhancing the connection between sites and people by coordinating learning sites and leadership networks. Prior to her current position she has worked on various different areas of World Heritage at the national level. She was the World Heritage Focal Point for the Republic of Korea for nine years at the Cultural Heritage Administration, and has held staff and consultancy positions to various Korean entities. She also served as Rapporteur of the World Heritage Committee in 2016. Eugene holds an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies, a BA in Korean History and is currently completing her PhD in World Heritage Studies at Konkuk University in Seoul.
Programme Coordinator - World Heritage Leadership
Eugene Jo is the Programme Coordinator for the joint IUCN/ICCROM World Heritage Leadership Programme. She joined ICCROM in 2017 and is based in ...
Taras Bains
Taras Bains - Junior Professional
Taras Bains joined IUCN in 2024 as Junior Professional for World Heritage. He coordinates the newly introduced Preliminary Assessment Process, which provides advice directly to States Parties before the submission of a final nomination, under the World Heritage Convention. He also supports the technical evaluation of new World Heritage site nominations, and the preparation of the IUCN World Heritage Outlook. Before IUCN, he had worked in community-based conservation and central government environmental policy. He holds an integrated master’s degree (MBiol) in Biology (with a specialism in Conservation) from the University of Oxford.
Taras Bains - Junior Professional
Taras Bains joined IUCN in 2024 as Junior Professional for World Heritage. He coordinates the newly introduced Preliminary Assessment Process, which provides ...
Robbert Casier
World Heritage Programme Development Officer
Robbert joined IUCN in 2024. He supports the expansion of the portfolio of IUCN’s World Heritage work and explores partnerships and collaborative work across IUCN Programmes, Regional Offices, IUCN Commissions and IUCN members and partners. He worked a decade for the World Heritage Centre at UNESCO where he helped set up eDNA expeditions, monitored the conservation status of natural World Heritage sites, or organized trainings for marine protected area managers. Prior to his work on World Heritage and ocean science, he served as the Flemish Youth Delegate for Climate Policy, worked as a Parliamentary Advisor in Brussels, and conducted field work in South Africa, Mozambique, Russian Federation (Lake Baikal) and the Mediterranean Sea. In 2011 he was awarded an Alfred Toepfer Natural Heritage Scholarship from the EUROPARC Federation. Robbert holds a Master's degree in Marine Geology and likes scuba diving, genealogy and hiking. He is based in Washington, D.C.
World Heritage Programme Development Officer
Robbert joined IUCN in 2024. He supports the expansion of the portfolio of IUCN’s World Heritage work and explores partnerships and collaborative work ...
Lisa Kopsieker
World Heritage Outlook Coordinator
Lisa joined IUCN in 2024. She is coordinating the fourth World Heritage Outlook, which is a global assessment of key conservation issues across all natural and mixed World Heritage sites, over time. Before joining IUCN, Lisa worked in a range of environmental conservation areas including sustainability certification, in-situ and ex-situ species conservation, policy, and management. She has a MSc in conservation science and a BSc (Hons) in environmental sciences with a focus on management.
World Heritage Outlook Coordinator
Lisa joined IUCN in 2024. She is coordinating the fourth World Heritage Outlook, which is a global assessment of key conservation issues across all natural and ...
Natalia Batista Mora
World Heritage Monitoring Officer
Natalia joined IUCN in 2024 as World Heritage Monitoring Officer, based in San José, Costa Rica. She serves as the regional focal point for Latin America, North America, Western Europe, and Australia. Prior to joining IUCN, Natalia gained extensive experience working with the United Nations Development Programme, civil society organizations, and government entities, where she focused on environmental law, conservation, advocacy, and public policy. She holds degrees in environmental law from institutions in Costa Rica and the United States and is currently pursuing an MSc in Public Policy Management.
World Heritage Monitoring Officer
Natalia joined IUCN in 2024 as World Heritage Monitoring Officer, based in San José, Costa Rica. She serves as the regional focal point for Latin America, North ...
Matilde Montagna
Project Support Officer, World Heritage and International Designations
Matilde joined IUCN in 2024 as Project Support Officer, World Heritage and International Designations. She supports the World Heritage team in projects related to World Heritage and Multi-Internationally Designated Areas by conducting research and consultations across the IUCN network. Before joining IUCN, she conducted field work in the Kalahari desert (South Africa), studying the social behaviour of meerkats, and interned at the CMS Secretariat on the topic of community participation and livelihoods in wildlife management and conservation. She holds a MSc in biodiversity, ecology and evolution with a focus on conservation biology and a BSc in physiology and cellular biology.
Project Support Officer, World Heritage and International Designations
Matilde joined IUCN in 2024 as Project Support Officer, World Heritage and International Designations. She supports the World ...
WCPA Vice-chair for World Heritage
Alfred Degemmis
Vice-Chair for World Heritage, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
Alfred is the Director of International Policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). He has worked in conservation for more than 14 years, and currently focuses on global or multilateral policy frameworks addressing biodiversity, protected areas and OECMs, wildlife trade, migratory species, pandemics of zoonotic origin, climate change, food systems, and more. He has engaged with more than 30 World Heritage sites through the work of WCS, with wider experience through engagement on other sites and on cross-cutting issues with World Heritage decision-making fora. He co-chairs working groups convened under the WCPA on topics such as OECMs, and he has also co-authored papers in scientific and policy journals on protected and conserved areas, forest integrity, and more. Alfred holds a B.A. in environmental studies and literature from Connecticut College and a Masters in public policy and administration, focusing on international environmental law and governance, from Columbia University.
Vice-Chair for World Heritage, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas
Alfred is the Director of International Policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). He has ...
EXPERTISE:
World heritage