The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) with Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, has a new Executive Director. On 1 December 2010, Alexander Buck assumed office following the departure of Peter Mayer who became Director General of the Austrian Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape. Alexander Buck’s position as Executive Director is limited to four years until after the next IUFRO World Congress in autumn 2014.
Alexander Buck graduated in Forestry from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU),Vienna, and studied law at the University of Vienna, Austria. He had already gained experience in international forest activities in his former employment with “Forest Europe” (previously known as “Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe”) before he joined the IUFRO Headquarters team in 2002 and became Deputy Executive Director in 2003. Alexander Buck has also successfully served as Coordinator of the IUFRO-led GlobalForest Expert Panels initiative of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests since 2007.
Alexander Buck’s appointment is the result of a selection process in which five strong candidates from different countries were short-listed for the position. The Selection Committee was headed by IUFRO President, ProfessorNiels Elers Koch, Director General of the Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning.
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