Bonn, 14 January 2013 - Dr. Johannes Stahl joined the CMS Secretariat today on a temporary contract to replace Dr. Aline Kuehl who is currently on extended leave of absence. As the new Associate Scientific and Technical Officer, Johannes will support the work of the Science Unit and assist with the organization of meetings of the Scientific Council as well as other events. More specifically, he will work on the development of the Small Grants Programme and cross-cutting issues such as climate change and ecological networks.

Prior to joining the CMS Secretariat, Johannes was a Junior Professional Officer for forest biodiversity in the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). His work focused on the bushmeat crisis and sustainable wildlife management, and on biodiversity-related aspects of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

Johannes holds a Ph.D. in agriculture from Humboldt University in Berlin, and an M.A. in social anthropology from the University of Freiburg. He also was a postdoctoral fellow in environmental science, policy and management at the University of California at Berkeley. A German national, he lived for extended periods of time in Albania, Argentina, Bolivia, Canada and the United States.