Director of WICE: Dr. Ir.* DAAN VREUGDENHIL

Curriculum vitae

Download doctoral thesis: Protected Areas Planning and Monitoring

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Profession:Natural resources / environmental management

Place of Birth: Utrecht, The Netherlands

Date of Birth: 1949, April 14

Nationality: Dutch Dutch

Key Qualifications:

Dr. Ir. Daan Vreugdenhil, director of the World Institute for Conservation & Environment, and the Adopt A Ranger Foundation, spent a lifetime dedicated to the conservation of nature and the environment. He graduated with high honours in natural resources management and ecology and has a PhD production ecology and resource conservation and management. Since he represented the youth delegation to the European Conservation Year, 1970, his career spans three and a half decades, during which he has worked in a variety of international and national organisations in both the public and the private sectors. Together with his advising work in a large number of countries, this has gained him a broad organisational experience, which he puts to practice as re-organisation and interim manager. His work in both tropical and temperate regions include experience in a variety of fields: multi-disciplinary management and planning of natural resources, seas and marine coasts (incl. scuba diving reconnaissance), multiple-use fresh-water systems, forest ecosystems, environmental impact assessments, forest cover and ecosystem mapping and GIS management and environmental monitoring systems and databases. He has been appointed member of the IUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected areas. He combines both vegetation and animal ecology for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

His career started when he became project officer for the International Youth Federation for Environmental Studies and conservation during the European Conservation Year 1970. After finishing his studies, he became a forestry officer with FAO, participating in projects in South America and Africa in 1974. Upon return to the Netherlands in 1979, he worked himself up to the level of senior administrator with the Netherlands' Ministry of Works and Water (Rijkswaterstaat is the Dutch equivalent of the USA Corps of Engineers), where he was responsible for three different integrated programs over a period of 10 years: (1) the management of Dutch part of the North Sea Coastal zone, (2) the Reorganisation of the Dutch National Water Defence Research and Monitoring Programme and (3) the Maintenance Programme of the civil works infrastructure of the Dutch fresh watersystem, involving an annual budget responsibility of about US $150,000,000, which included an annual budget of US $30,000,000 for research, monitoring and the ecological recovery of the River Rhine. He was part of the national disaster planning team and lead the national Sandoz disaster recovery team, after one of the largest chemical disasters in European history killed all life in the Rhine River between Switzerland and the North Sea.

In 1990, he returned to the international sphere as Chief of the Natural Resources Management Unit at DHV-Consultants, for which he developed and led projects (since 1990) in Eastern Europe, Asia and Costa Rica. In 1992, he joined the Inter American Development Bank as an environmental specialist with responsibility for Panamá and Belize. In 1989, he founded the forebear of the Institute for Conservation and Environment, at first to provide ecotourism services, which in 1995, expended to international consultant services when Dr. Vreugdenhil became its full time director. His assignments have included regional development plans, protected areas management plans (Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe), the development and design of biodiversity monitoring systems (Honduras, México, Hungary, Netherlands), Aquatic Monitoring (Netherlands, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary) Ecosystems mapping (coordination and advising of all of Central America), and management plans in the field of sustainable forestry and biodiversity conservation, Project management (since 1981).

Involved in environmental impact assessments of many different types of projects, Dr. Vreugdenhil worked – depending on his function as senior administrator, re-organisation manager, project manager, or as a technical specialist - on flood protection (Netherlands), land-reclamation (Netherlands), irrigation and drainage (Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Tajikistan), macro-scale sluices, canals (Netherlands, Panama, Kyrgyzstan), storm-surge barriers and dikes (Netherlands), sanitation and sewerage treatment (Colombia), harbours (Netherlands, Dominica Republic, roads (Europe, Southern Highway in Belize), hydro-electrical plants (Colombia, Ecuador, Tajikistan) and contaminated dredge spoil disposal (Argentina, Netherlands).

Dr. Vreugdenhil was the teamleader of a taskforce of renowned senior scientists from all parts of the world to develop a strategic methodology for the IUCN in preparation of the Vth World Parks Congress in South Africa: “Comprehensive Protected Areas System Planning And Monitoring”. The team developed the world’s first comprehensive methodology for selecting biodiversity to protected areas systems, taking into account species selection by proxy or surrogate methods, minimum area needs for both animals and plants (in casu trees), spatially non-biased protected areas evaluation, protected areas costs, socio-economic aspects. It uses the computer analysis tool MICOSYS, which was originally developed in 1992 for Costa Rica, and is the oldest programme in the world for protected areas system analysis. The programme also includes a protected areas costing module for both investment needs and operational costs. He has applied MICOSYS for the PA systems of Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica Belize and Brazil. Further, he carried out costings for the protected areas of all developing and transition countries of the world and a detailed costing of the protected areas system of Brasil. His interests in financial aspects of environmental and biodiversity conservation has been translated into the design and evaluation of environmental endowment funds (Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua).

He has always taken a keen interest in visiting sites that have been struck by natural disasters or that are allowed to recover after major changes have taken place to assess natural resilience and ecological recovery after mayor ecological disruptions. Sites visited include the Yellowstone forest after the major fire, the Rhine River after the Sandoz accident, many locations affected by Hurricane Mitch, the Everglades after Hurricane Andrew and a variety of forests in central America after severe fire or hurricane impacts, etc.

From his headquarters, Dr. Vreugdenhil operates a fully equipped GIS laboratory. He designs and operates databases for biodiversity monitoring, worldwide macrofauna distribution and ecosystem mapping. The worldwide http://nature-worldwide.info is a portal for birds, mammals, coral reefs, herpeto-fauna, national parks, currently with more than 3,000,000 entries is the largest of its kind on the internet. Dr. Vreugdenhil is member of the World Bank international Task Force for Environmental Flow promotion for rivers with irrigation and hydro-electrical schemes.

Education:

MSc. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management; Graduated with high honours from the Agricultural Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

Language Abilities:

Life time list of countries visited: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Check Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoir, Denmark, Dominican Republic, The Dutch Antilles, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Kroatia, Laos, Luxembourg, Macedonian Republic, Mexico, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Porto Rico, Rumania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovenian Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, United Kingdom, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, South Africa.

Employment Record:

Detailed Tasks Assigned:

2006-2007 Founding member and director of Adopt A Ranger
Adopt A Ranger is an innovative initiative to try to help solve the most urgent problem that conservation is facing in developing and transition nations: Raise funds to finance rangers in the field. Adopt A Ranger has as its mission to support the conservation of nature worldwide, particularly by:
financing the salaries and operational costs of "national park rangers" and comparable officials whose task it is to protect natural areas and to serve the stakeholder public of the protected area to which they be assigned; and
promoting public interest in the conservation of protected areas in developing countries.
Visit: http://www.adopt-a-ranger.org 
1989-2007 Director of the World Institute for Conservation and Environment:
2005-2007 Brasil, TNC: In the context of COP8 of the CBD in Curitiba, Brasil, the Ministry of Environment (MMA) of Brasil created the National Forum on Protected Areas, with representatives of both the government and society. As part of this endeavour, Dr. Vreugdenhil was invited to make an integral financial analysis for the long term financing of the entire protected areas system (SNUC) of Brasil, involving almost 300 federal, 500 state, some municipal and 500 private protected areas. Using a special version of MICOSYS, an individual costing was made of each of the more than 1200 areas in the database and a financial analysis was made of the budgets and income sources of the MMA and its environmental institute IBAMA. Prognoses were modelled on income sources like visitation revenue, forestry concessions, environmental compensation funding, the protected areas endowment fund (FUNBIO/FAP) etc. and a scenario was portrayed on how the GoB can achieve a permanent minimum adequate financing over a period of 10 years.
2006 Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Government of Finland/HCG: Formulation mission, in coordination with the Comunidad Andina de Naciones (CAN) of a Finland-CAN Programme that will support and build capacities to: a) improve the ability of the region to implement the Regional Biodiversity Strategy and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), b) strengthen the Information Society by promoting the establishment of Information Systems on biological diversity and c) promote regional land use planning through implementation of the Ecological and Economic Zoning (ZEE).
2005-2006 American hemisphere, OAS/GEF: For the duration of 5 years, the Boticario Foundation for Nature Protection (FBNP) of Brasil, leads a task force of IUCN, WWF, Humboldt Institute (Colombia), NatureServe, TNC, WICE, EcoCiencia (Ecuador), the Mexican National Parks Service - CONANP - and the Mexican Fund for Nature Conservation FMCN on behalf of the Inter American Biological Network (IABIN at http://iabin.net). IABIN, an international institution under the umbrella of the Organization of American States (OAS) with its headquarters in Panama, has received a grant from GEF to develop and set the standards for biological and conservation informatics and technology, data storage and information sharing issues for the entire American Hemisphere. This effort is essential for the region, as it responds to both the Vth World Parks Congress and the CDB COP 7 resolutions, particularly the “Ecosystem Approach”. The task force is working on such issues as the development of a state of the art and yet practical hemispheric methodology (i) for ecosystems classification, identification, mapping and monitoring, (ii) socio-economic as well as biological management effectiveness evaluation of protected areas, (iii) applicable and affordable protected areas and biodiversity monitoring methods, (iv) the development of a web-based database for biodiversity and protected areas data for the member states (currently 34 IABIN signatory countries), (v) the development of a web-based GIS tool with access for all protected areas managers and planners, etc. As part of this crucial task, the task force provide training and workshops for the IABIN member countries. Dr. Vreugdenhil supports the FBNP as the scientific coordinator of the task force, while building on methodologies he has helped develop over the last 15 years. 
2005 Tajikistan, Ferghana Valley / Syr Darya River environmental flow assessment, World Bank: In the context of a Irrigation Infrastructure and Hydro-electro Reservoir Rehabilitation project, an environmental flow assessment was carried out, taking in consideration the existing water agreements among the countries feeding in to the Syr Darya River and ultimately the Aral Sea. Special concerns were water quality and the survival of certain threatened fish species. 
2005 Mexico, Evaluation 25 million dollars GEF protected Areas management project: The evaluation mission evaluated impacts of the project as well as the policy of the CONANP as a whole where related to the project objectives, as the policy of the project could not be separated from the institution’s national policy on this issue. CONANP does an extraordinary job in assisting local communities. However, with somewhere around a mere 2,000,000 Mexican visitors per year (the USA NPS has between 400 and 500 million visits per year), COANP misses to reach the Mexican public and failing to do so, it lacks a popular support bases to the nation’s protected areas system. Evaluation of the management of 5 protected areas inhabited by local communities. Recommendations to enhance visitation though better management and marketing. The mission advised on both the environmental and social impacts of the project and CONANP management approaches. It advised how future increased visitation could be absorbed without endangering the areas’ natural resources, while it opiniated that the CONANP does far more than merely manage conservation areas: In the most remote and forgotten corners of the country, it functions as the advanced outposts of the federal government in aiding some of the most vulnerable people of the nation – including ethnic minorities - in to achieving self-governance and improving their livelihoods. In the process, CONANP advances gender equity goals among traditional rural communities where the needs for this issue are still eminent.
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/downloads/EvaluacionSINAP2.pdf 
2005 - 2006 Venezuela, GEF mid-sized grant Indigenous people self management project: The Dekuana tribe occupies about 2 million ha of mainly primary forest in southern Venezuela. This on-going project helps the Dekuana to carry out sustainable hunting practices and land use planning involving ILWIS-based GIS applied by the Dekuana. This innovative project involves training and wildlife management research and monitoring, participative protected area management planning and sustainable resources use including sustainable hunting practices.
2004 - 2005 Serbia, Water Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project, World Bank: Environmental Impact assessment for a 35 million dollar water infrastructure rehabilitation project to strengthen dikes along the Danube, dredge drainage and irrigation canals, refurbish pump stations, reorganisation of the water sector, integral water management applications, etc. 
2004 - 2005 China, Biodiversity monitoring and GIS training course, NUFFIC: In a combined effort ITC and WICE provided a biodiversity monitoring and GIS training course to the National Park Office of China. This approximate 20 weeks course dealt with all the necessary GIS and monitoring applications for monitoring the 175 national parks and natural heritage sites under the supervision by the NPO. As an on the job training component a participative management plan was made for Sanquin Shan National Park. 
2004 Cambridge, Workshop on Conservation Financing: Presentation on the worldwide costing of protected areas to the World Conservation Finance Alliance.
2004 Ecuador, Sibimbe Hydroproject, World Bank: Environmental Flow and environmental impact assessment mid-size Hydro-electrical project and greenhouse gas release abatemente.
2004 Ecuador, Sabanilla Hydroproject, World Bank: Environmental Flow and environmental impact assessment mid-size Hydro-electrical project and greenhouse gas release abatemente.
2004 Thailand, WICE: Speaker on the IUCN World Conservation Congress on ecosystems management approach.
2004
Brazil, WICE: Keynote speaker on the Congreso Nacional de Areas de Conservação in Brasil, linking biodiversity loss due to climate change to protected areas system and financial planning and measures for mitigation.
2004 México, EU: Evaluation of the EU project on marine protected areas. The project was intended to make 4 key protected areas in the Mexican system financially self-sufficient. While attempting to achieve financial independence for these areas, no effort was made to calculate recurrent and investment costs of the areas. The evaluation mission designed a costs assessment format for the institution and with the area administrators assessed the costs of each area under evaluation. The outcome showed that financial independence was still elusive and could probably best be achieved through a system of differentiated entry and service fees. Evaluation of the management of 5 protected areas inhabited by local communities. Recommendations to enhance visitation though better management and marketing.
2004 Malaysia IUCN: Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, financed WWF: IUCN delegate specialist on protected areas financing.
2003 Worldwide, wholly financed by WICE and Conservation International: Cost approximation of all of the world’s protected areas in developing and transition countries based on World Bank salary data, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre/UNEP protected Areas Database and the financial module of the MICOSYS analysis programme with more than 50 costing factors. The result for recurrent costs of a total of only $1,000,000,000 (one billion) came out as a great surprise to the analysts, as it was more than twice as low as previous estimates that were based on much less detailed assumptions. 
2003 Worldwide, wholly financed by WICE: A strategic IUCN methodology developed by a taskforce of renowned senior scientists from all parts of the world for handing out at the Vth World Parks Congress in South Africa: “Comprehensive Protected Areas System Planning And Monitoring”. 
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/nature_management/national_parks/national_parks_systems_development.htm 
The document reviews the options for efficient biodiversity selection by proxy or surrogate to protected areas systems worldwide based on the experiences of ecosystem mapping, minimum area for both animals and plants (in casu trees).
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/downloads/micosys/protected_areas_system_composition&monitoring.pdf 
It reviews previous analysis worldwide since the nineteen seventies and offers solutions both for biodiversity selection and for protected areas monitoring by integrating different appropriate technology modules and tools. The methodology, which was originally designed in 1992, is the oldest in the world and has the broadest scientific as well as socio-economic considerations of all existing applications, and has been designed to be executed by native ecologists and resource planners It uses the analysis tool MICOSYS which includes a protected areas costing module for both investment needs and operational costs, as well as a sophisticated biodiversity and protected areas monitoring database. tools (both in Spanish and English) are downloadable for free from the internet: 
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/nature_management/monitoring/monitoring.htm
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/nature_management/national_parks/micosys_Honduras.zip 
2002 Colombia, Netherlands Government: Review of an innovative financing programme of the Dutch Government concerning Budget Support programme to strengthen the nation’s environmental programme. 
1999-2006 Worldwide, wholly financed by WICE: Teamleader/designer of the website team for the WICE website network http://www.nature-worldwide.info . Nature Worldwide hosts or is in the process of developing species lists for the birds, mammals, and coral reefs of all countries of the world, currently with more than 3,000,000 data entries. It is currently designing a very user-friendly worldwide on-line biodiversity monitoring database, on-line methods for natural resources and protected areas management, biodiversity and ecosystem mapping, integral water management practices, as well as a non-commercial worldwide ecotourism information site, with a protected areas list for each country of the world. WICE holds 25 specialised domains integrated with Nature Worldwide to facilitate better visibility in Google.
2002 Honduras, GEF/World Bank/PROBAPP: Team leader for the rationalisation of the protected areas system of Honduras, SINAPH. Presence/gap analysis based on the Map of the Ecosystems of Central America on the basis of in-house developed computer programme MICOSYS. Organisation of the country’s biodiversity data. Financial analysis and tourism potential revision of the national protected areas system and national strategy for maximizing visitation income.
1999-2001 Central America, CCAD/World Bank/Netherlands Government: Project manager/coordinator of the most thorough scientific ecosystems study ever executed in Central America. It involves the detailed forest cover and ecosystems mapping at scale 1:250,000 for all seven Central American Countries as well as a detailed ecosystems analysis. http://www.nature-worldwide.info/cam/themes/ecosystems_map.htm 
The consultant tasks included: (i) for each country overseeing the production teams of the national specialists, (ii) training in the UNESCO vegetation classification, application and training of GIS, (iii) at the end, assist CATIE in integrating all the GIS files into one large regional ecosystems baseline to be posted on the Website of the Central American Commission for Environment (CCAD), as well as on the one of the World Bank. The map production is a joint effort of several universities in each one of the participating countries and the Ministries of Environment/Forest Services or equivalent. The mapping project introduces the detailed UNESCO mapping system as the modern alternative to the Holdridge system, as it reflects the real vegetation situation from remotely sensed images and about 150 detailed field verification sites in each country. A powerful, easy applicable database will serve future projects and national programs to monitor biodiversity, protected areas, sequestered carbon (the inventories include the basal area factor, a measurement for cubic meters of wood mass per hectare), etc. 
1999-2001 Honduras, GEF/World Bank/PROBAP: Team leader for the development of a monitoring system for the protected areas system of Honduras, SINAPH. Database development, organizational advise, memorandums of collaboration between COHDEFOR and universities; selection of equipment, etc.
1998 Nicaragua, DANIDA: National coastal zone and marine management plan. The strategy deals with the complicated social aspects of the shrimp industry, the slow urbanization effects of non-regulated coastal tourism, law-enforcement on fisheries, coastal zoning methods, estuarine management, coordination among different levels of government, organization of the de-facto coastguard, oil-pollution abatement through international cooperation among countries and oil companies, disaster contingency plans, MARPOL and the Cartagena-Treaty.
1997-1998 Mexico, WB/GEF: Evaluation of the WB/GEF component of the Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza. This assignment was later expanded with an advisory component under contract by the Fondo 
For fundraising, institutional organization, financing mechanisms, ecotourism, etc. Participatory development of a low-cost permanent monitoring system which can function independently of external financing. This monitoring system would later form the bases for the worldwide monitoring database. Evaluation of the management of 5 protected areas inhabited by local communities. Recommendations to enhance visitation though better management and marketing.
1996 Mexico, FAO/WB: Pre-appraisal mission for Social forestry project for the State of Oaxaca. Community forestry development, assistance for sustainable community forestry management plans, training, etc.

1997 Mongolia, IFAD: The Mongolian Selenge River watershed provides 60 percent of the water running into Lake Baikal in Russia. It is also the most densely populated part of Mongolia and exposed to major human influences, including urban pollution, mining and industry, as well as erosion, irrigation, etc. The assignment involved the formulation of an integral water management (both watershed management and water quality management) for the Mongolian part of the Russian Lake Baikal (60% of the total) watershed, watershed management, the reduction of polluting effects through seasonal discharge spreading and strategic pollutants reduction, the polluter pays principle, improvement of sewage plants, the restoration of the national monitoring system, etc.
1997 Kyrgyzstan, FAO/WB: Environmental Impact Assessment on the national irrigation rehabilitation project. The scope has been much broader than just impact mitigation. His proposition to introduce a broad sectoral integral Water management component has resulting in the formulation of such a program under the Aral Sea GEF. This component will improve water quality through the introduction of water management models, the introduction of a nation-wide water monitoring system and the reduction of polluting effects through discharge schemes and strategic pollutants reductions. Mitigation of impacts of 13 headworks and dams, safety aspects of downstream populations, water quality aspects of both surface and ground water.
1995-1998 Central America, UNDP/WB/GEF: This period concerns various different and independently financed GEF projects, in part carried out under UNDP and in part under the World Bank. These projects are very similar in design and make part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. They included the development of many protected areas management plans, sustainable bufferzone management programs involving local communities, stakeholders, farmers, indigenous people, and NGOs. Identification of promising productive activities, such as small scale fishing, animal husbandry, BD-friendly agriculture, communal gold mining, tourism, etc. Preludes to coastal management initiatives. Assessment of strengths and weaknesses of biodiversity protection, of needs of institutional strengthening and investments and of policy and financial priorities of the national parks system. A computerized rating system has been established with the WICE in-house developed MICOSYS-software, involving biodiversity representation, institutional capacities and economic values. Estimate on long-term financial needs for a minimum national conservation system, which includes all major ecosystems of Honduras; identification of self-financing opportunities and gap-analysis. In Honduras en Nicaragua, Dr. Vreugdenhil supervised and guided the formulation of respectively the conservation and environmental trustfunds.
1994-1996 Dominican Republic, IDB: The Rehabilitation of the Harbours of the Dominican Republic Project is to prepare the country for its growing position as a Caribbean centre of container redistribution. The project involves dredging, major harbor infrastructure rehabilitation, MARPOL requirements and other pollution prevention measures, as well as improvement of environmental coast guard inspection. Mitigation of coastal environmental impacts and prelude to the development of a coast guard task for the country’s marine.
1986-present Ecuador: WICE was originally founded to promote the Cuyabeno Lodge development project. It is the largest participant in the Ecuador registered Cuyabeno Lodge. The lodge is an experimental ecotourism project to test the practical aspects of ecotourism. Dr. Vreugdenhil initiated his first ecotour to Cuyabeno in 1986. Many years of experience in marketing, tourism requirements and ecotourism product development have been accumulated. Ecotourism packages are sold on the European and USA market; they include components to Galapagos and Peru, while benefits return to the Cuyabeno project.
1985 Ecuador, UNEP: Management plan fore the Cuyabeno sustainable wildlife hunting reserve.
1992-1998 Management partner/board director in the Plancius Foundation for ecocruises and expeditions. The cruises are aimed biodiveristy conservation through a specialized niche in the European market interested in coastal and archipelago based quality biological environments. Destinations include North and South Poles and tropical islands.
1993 Hungary, EU / PHARE: Senior Specialist on EEC-PHARE-financed project to identify financing alternatives for the Hungarian National Parks Service (reed, fishing, hunting, ecotourism, entry fees) with emphasis on the Hortubagi and Kyskunsag National Parks.
1992-1995 Environmental specialist as staff member of the IDB:
1994-1995 Panama: The cleaning of the City of Panama and the Panama Bay. Environmental Impact Assessment sewerage and solid waste project. The inadequate sanitation system and waste collection program of the City is becoming increasingly more problematic given the city's position at the entry of the Panama Canal and as a fast growing international banking metropolis. The project also includes maritime management (coast guard) and inspection and harbour pollution remediation to discontinue other sources from pollution in the Bay, and mitigation of environmental impacts of works.
1994-1995 Belize: As the IDB’s environmental specialist on the Southern Highway Rehabilitation Project the far fetching consequences of the project were identified. Profound Environmental Impact Studies were initiated such as the Belize ecosystems map and contributions to the national biodiversity strategy. Through a gap-analysis, A coastal low-land ecosystem was identified as missing and it was brought under legal protection. A regional development plan was proposed to mitigate secondary effects on the protected areas system and the indigenous population. Drainage and rehabilitation of quarry sites were major issues. The environmental impact assessment involved the application of the MICOSYS software program to determine mitigation requirements.
1995 Panama: Strengthening of the electrical power sector. Environmental Impact Assesment: The project was to modernize and improve the national power company both from a technical capacity and an administrative point of view, in order to prepare it for meeting the growing demands of Panama. The project included the construction of a medium sized hydro-electrical power plant.
1993-1994 Brazil: Drainage of Sao Paulo, environmental impact assessment. When the mini flood-planes of the city's creeks were the last remaining open spaces, many became occupied by new poor city dwellers, who thus built slum areas under the worst possible sanitary conditions and exposed to periodical floods. The $500 million project combines improved drainage through canalization with urbanization, road construction, city housing and slum improvement. The creation of many parks in the remaining flood plains considerably improves the acreage of green spaces, while preventing the development of new slum development in high risk areas and a component to improve the Civil Defence’s emergency program will further contribute to a durable improvement of safety from flooding. Resettlement and mitigation of major works were carefully addressed. The project was declared an example for the IDB by President Iglesias for its innovation on social and environmental approach.
1993 Colombia: Hydro-electrical station PORCE-II environmental impact assesment. This project will add another hydro-electrical power station to the network of the Medellin drainage system. Major concerns included eutrophication, erosion and sedimentation, pollution from upstream gold-mining, resettlement of population and the mitigation of environmental impacts of works.
1993 Panama: Reverted Lands Project. The transfer of lands and real estate of the USA Government to the Government of Panama will have a major impact on the country's economy and potentially as well on the quality of the Panama Canal watershed. The project is to help the Reverted Lands Authority to carry out its task to integrate the Canal Zone with all its assets into the Panamanian society while also improving the management of the Canal’s watershed.
1992 Panama: Alternatives to the Panama Canal environmental impact study. The capacity of the current Panama Canal is reaching its limits. A joint study of alternatives to increase transportation capacity includes land transportation alternatives and three major canal variants. For this major tripartite study of the Governments of Panama, USA and Japan, the IDB financed the environmental impact component. Of major concern was the Sea-Level alternative, which would connect two separated ocean ecosystems, thus risking predator species invasions, a particular threat to the Caribbean coral reefs.
1990-1992 Chief of the Natural Resources Management Unit of DHV Consultants:
1992 Rumania, EBRD: An EBRD mission to identify potential investment components for the preparation of a biodiversity and coastal restoration and management project in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve on the Black Sea coast. The project involved the reduction of pollution, promotion of sustainable development through beneficial utilization of natural resources such as sustainable sturgeon fishery practices, reed management and export, beach and ecotourism, coastal and riverine navigation, biodiversity protection, sustainable development, etc.
1992 Costa Rica, multiple contracts WB, UNDP/GEF, DGIS, ASDI: Similar assignment on biodiversity protection to the projects for Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua, as well as additional assignments by parallel financing projects of other donors.
1991 Hungary, EU-Phare: Team leader of a rehabilitation program to restore (1) the pusztas, the famous former flood planes of the Teisz-river system, currently excluded from the river through dikes but still highly significant international wetlands, Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage Sites, especially the Kyskunsag National Park, important headwaters of the Danube River. Development of programs for the restoration/imitation of former floodplain water regimes, water quality restoration, dune restoration and grassland rehabilitation through adaptation of antiquated mono-functional irrigation and drainage systems as well as integral management plans for each of the 4 areas.
1991 Thailand and Lao PDR, Mekong Secretariat: Environmental Impact Assessment of the Mekong Irrigation Program on the Korat Plateau. Responsible for setting guidelines for integral water management studies and advise on environmentally sound planning approaches for development of irrigation schemes and the design of a monitoring program. At predominant levels of agricultural inputs, water pollution was not an issue, while most areas did not suffer from salinisation problems. Alteration of water courses did need due attention. It was recommended to take advantage of newly created wetland values of storage lakes to compensate for wetland losses.
1990 Indonesia, DGIS: Team leader of a DGIS delega­tion assigned to assess the technical and economic feasibility of ecotourism and marine archipelago environment management in Indonesia. The Indonesian bird islands/coral reefs are of major importance in the distribution of the large pan-tropical marine birds, being the last remaining nesting sites in those parts of the tropics. The vast number of small islands of Indonesia are temporarily or permanently inhabited with predominantly subsistence fishery populations. Outline for sustainable management of the islands and the bird colonies.
1981-1990 Senior Administrator of the Netherlands Ministry for Works and Water – Rijkswaterstaat (similar to the USA Corps of Engineers) with major financial responsibilities for the renown Dutch aquatic infrastructure:
1987-1990 The Netherlands: Senior Administrator in The Hague in charge of the budget (US $150,000,000 per year) for the management of the main water ways The Rhine, Meuse, Schelde and their joint estuary, the North Sea Canal and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, including their infrastructural works (sluices, bridges, etc.). During this administrative period he had the unique opportunity to actually carry out the planned activities as he was in charge of the administrative finances for the management of the national aquatic infrastructure. Very few technicians have ever enjoyed such opportunity. He initiated an integral masterplan for these waters. The masterplan included improved financial planning of aforementioned budget, the famous ecological restoration program for the River Rhine (dedicated financial resources of 10 years $150,000,000) after the Sandoz-pollution accident and a general program to reduce Dutch water pollution input by 50%. Some specific works and projects:

1. Renovation of IJsselmeer Locks (passage of 11% of the river Rhine) and management adaptation to improve ecological functions;
   

2. Renovation of the Haringvliet Locks (passage of 50% of the river Rhine) and management adaptation;
   

3. Installation of hydro-electrical installation in 3 locks in the rivers Rhine and Meuse;
   

4. Renovation and ecological improvement of about 500 km. of national canals navigation canals;
   

5. Dredging and contaminated dredge spoil disposal of various heavily contaminated harbours in the Rotterdam harbour area;
   

6. Creation of new swamp areas from clay borrow areas for the dike renovation.
   Privatization of national land reclamation program.

1985-1987 The Netherlands: Senior officer in charge of the budget (US $30,000,000 per year) of this ministry for water mana­gement research and the national environmen­tal monitoring program involving: the modernization of a national monitoring program (both for fresh-water and coastal management) for water quality control with: 150 survey vessels, national networks of permanent aquatic and marine monitoring stations, a mainframe compute­rized data processing and recording data-bank, and the development of new environmental monitoring techniques including satellite observation techniques for aquatic ecosystems. Participant or chairperson for some specific studies:

Integral management modelling for (1) the North Sea and (2) for the Dutch national aquatic infrastructure which would form the basis for aforementioned national masterplan;

1. The National North Sea plan;
   

2. Environmental impacts of major surface and underground energy storage;
   

3. Ecology friendly alternatives for large scale shipping canal shores and their water management;
   

4. Remotely sensed water quality techniques;
   

5. Eutrophication reduction through modelling and biological management techniques;
   

6. New dephosphatization techniques;
   

7. Flexible beach reinforcement and sand suppletion.

1981-1985 The Netherlands: Resources planner/coordinator for the integral human activities and biodiversity conservation masterplan for the Coastal North Sea (Wadden Sea - 240 000 ha of shallow sea and salt marshes in the northern Netherlands). Policy and management coordinator for activities and interests: flood-control, sluices, dune management, sand-suppletion; navigation, dredging; salt-marsh management; fis­heries and aqua cultures; water pollution abatement by chemical and biological pollutants and oil; tourism development; water quality control and estuarine ecosystem management. Specific programs:

1. Oil pollution and marine disaster abatement program;
   

2. Oil transportation pipelines and oil platforms emergency and pollution abatement program;
   

3. Harbour pollution abatement program;
   

4. EIA of marine marshland reclamation project;
   

5. Freshwater conservation program for recreation islands;
   

6. Management plans for 4 insular national parks;
   

7. Beach protection programs;
   

8. Coastguard operation and alarm centre program.

1985 Burkina Faso, DGIS: On loan basis from his ministry in an agro-forestry project for the development of village firewood plantations and the promotion of firewood economizing ovens.
1979-1980 Project manager with Oranjewoud BV, a private consultant services firm
The Netherlands: Development of plans for near-urban recreation facilities, including water recreation areas for the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
1974-1979 Forestry officer of the FAO:
1977-1979 Benin, FAO: Forestry officer for a national parks and forest reserves project in the dry Sudan Savanna Belt. Responsible for the planning and elaboration of management programs: forest resource and wildlife management study; vegetation mapping; socioeconomic analysis; management plan for the W-National Park, training of local staff; development of tourism infrastructure.
1974-1977 Ecuador, FAO: Forestry officer for project in the upper Amazon basin. Selection of forest reserves and national parks within the framework of a national conservation system of national parks and reserves, which has lead to the present conservation system of the national Parks in Ecuador. Management outlines for the Cuyabeno wildlife reserve and the Yasuní national park. NGO support resulted in establishment of "Fundación Natura", who’s former director is currently IUCN president.
1969-1970 IYF project officer:
1969-1970 Europe, projects officer IYF: Member on the executive board of the International Youth Federation for Environmental Studies and Conservation (IYF). As project officer he organised the IYF study and training camps programme for more than 20 countries of Europe, which were organised in most European countries in the context of the European Conservation Year 1970 by the IYF member organisations. Official representative to the Council of Europe Conference on the European Conservation year and initiator of the preparatory youth conference for the Stockholm 1972 world conference on the environment.

Vreugdenhil, D., 2002, MICOSYS, Application Honduras "National Parks Model", Evaluation spreadsheet in MS Excel, (version 3, with contributions by P. R. House 2002, http://www.birdlist.org/nature_management/national_parks/micosys.zip), Prepared for PPROBAP, Project COHDEFOR/UNDP/World Bank/GEF.

* Ir. stands for ingenieur/engineer a legally protected academic title under Dutch law, which has the same level of accreditation as MSc. 

NATURE WORLDWIDE is the official website of the World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. It is an integrated network of web sites dealing with different topics on nature, nature conservation and natural resources management. Read here why we created Nature Worldwide. Our Methodology explains how we produced our information. Our Site Map helps you find your way in the website. We made this website out of passion for conservation. We spent our own salaries and free time to gather the information and publish it on these websites, in total valuing hundreds of thousands of dollars of professional time. Nobody pays us to do this. We simply want to contribute to conservation. If you appreciate our work, PLEASE visit our site Adopt A Ranger and see how you can make a difference for conservation most effectively: By paying one day of the salary of a ranger, you will make a difference in conserving the lives of thousands of birds, other critters and entire forests. Enjoy!

NATURE DU MONDE est le site Web officiel du World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, C'est une collection intégrée de sites web qui traitent avec des sujets différents sur nature, conservation de la nature et gestion des ressources naturelles. Lisez ici pourquoi nous avons créé Nature de Monde. Notre Methodologie explique comme nous avons produit nos renseignements. Notre Site Map vous aide trouver votre entrée dans le site web. Beaucoup de plaisir!

NATURALEZA DEL MUNDO es la página Web oficial del World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es una red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados a la naturaleza, la conservación el manejo de recursos naturales, parques nacionales y áreas protegidas. Lea aqui porqué hicimos Naturaleza del Mundo. Nuestra Methodología explica como produjimos la información. Nuestro Mapa del sitio le ayuda encontrar su información en nuestra página web. Disfrute! 

NATUREZA DO MUNDO é o Web site oficial do World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE, Es uma red de páginas Web tratando de temas diferentes relacionados à natureza, la conservação el manejo de recursos naturaleiss, parques nacionais y áreas protegidas. Lea aqui porqué creamos Natureza do Mundo. Nossa Methodología explica como produjimos a informação. Nosso Mapa do sitio le ayuda encontrar sua informação no web site. Desfrute!

NATUR DER GANZEN WELT ist, die offiziellen Website der World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. Es ist ein einheitliches Netzwerk von Web Sites, über Themen wie Natur, Natur-Schutz und natürlichem Ressourcen Quellen Hege. Lesen Sie hier warum wir Natur der ganzen Welt gemacht haben. Unsere Verfahrensweise erklärt, wie wir unsere Informationen produziert würde. Unsere Site Map  hilft Ihnen Ihren Weg im Website zu finden. Viel Spaß!

NATUUR UIT ALLE STREKEN is, de officiële Website van het World Institute for Conservation and Environment, WICE. Het is een geïntegreerd Netwerk van websites, over Natuur, Natuurbescherming en het beheer van natuurlijke hulpbronnen. Lesen Sie hier warum wir Natuur uit alle Streken gemacht haben. Onze pagina Methode legt uit, hoe we onze informatie vergaarden. Onze Site Map helpt u op weg door onze website. 

WICE is a worldwide non-government non-profit organization that contributes to the conservation of nature. While it works on a many issues related to the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment, it is particularly committed to the conservation of national parks and other protected areas.

WICE - USA office:                            

1639 Steamboat Run Road

Shepherdstown, WV25443, USA

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