Research Institute for Sustainability Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

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Heinrich Wyes

Senior Fellow

From 2009 - 2017. Heinrich Wyes served as Deputy Executive Director of the Central Asian Regional Environment Centre (CAREC) in Almaty Kazakhstan. He is a geologist by training. Areas of his professional experiences include environmental management, the interface between international climate governance, biodiversity and agriculture, global health and resource mobilization. He has gained more than thirty years of experiences in international organizations, academia, civil society, the private sector as well as with governmental organizations. Before joining CAREC, he held senior positions with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organizations (WHO), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the German Ministry of Environment (BMU). He lectures at the German Kazakh University on project management, resource mobilization, public affairs and water resource management. His current research priorities focus on the interface between Industry 4.0 and circular economy in cooperation in cooperation with the Economic Research Institute of Asia (ERIA) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

  • Central Asia Regional Environment Centre (CAREC), Almaty, Kazakhstan - Senior Advisor to the Executive Director
  • 2009 - 2017 Central Asia Regional Environment Centre (CAREC), Almaty, Kazakhstan -Deputy Executive Director
  • 2008 - 2009 EARTH University, Costa Rica - Director RMB
  • 2006 -2007 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi, Kenya - Senior Programme Officer, Environment and Health Programme
  • 2002 -2005 - German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety - Berlin, Germany - Private Secretary to the Parliamentary State Secretary
  • 2001 - 2002 - German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety - Berlin, Germany - Spokesman - German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
  • 1998 - 2001 - Consultant to Soros Open Society Institute, IAVI (International Aids Vaccine Initiative), StopTB, MEND (Medicine in Need)- Harvard University), Yale University, Lympathic Filiaris Initiative etc.
  • 1998 - 2001 - Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) - International Maize and Wheat Research Institute (CIMMYT) Mexico - Senior Specialist, Resource Mobilization
  • 1996 - 1998 - World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe (WHO-EURO) Copenhagen, Denmark Manager, External Relations & Resource Mobilization
  • 1990 - 1995 - World Health Organization - European Center for Environment and Health - Bilthoven, The Netherlands Project Manager, WHO European Center for Environment and Health
  • 1990 - 1991 - German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety - Bonn, Germany Referent - Cooperation with Industrialized Countries
  • 1987 - 1990 - United Nations Environment Program Nairobi, Kenya - Special Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director UNEP and Secretary of CIDIE (Committee of International Development Institutions on the Environment)
  • 1985 - 1987 - United Nations Environment Program Nairobi, Kenya - Manager, Programme and Evaluation Unit UNEP
  • 1983 - 1985 United Nations Environment Program, Nairobi , Kenya -Program Manager, Bioproductivity and Biogeochemical Cycles Program Manager, Soil Conservation Program

  • environmental management
  • international climate governance
  • biodiversity and agriculture
  • global health
  • environmental epidemiology
  • resource mobilization
  • artscience

Publications prior to joining the RIFS

  • Connecting Sustainable Lifestyle, Industry 4.0, and the Circular Economy; Empowering ASEAN for the Circular Economy, Jakarta: ERIA (2018),
  • Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC): Evaluation of the Sustainable Mountain Development for Global Change Programme (SMD4GC) Programme in the Andean, African, Central Asian and Himalaya Hindukush region, 72 pages (2017)
  • Economic Research Institute for Asia (ERIA): Connecting Sustainable Lifestyles, Industry 4.0, and the Circular Economy, 23 pages (2016)
  • Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC): Evaluation of the Cooperation Strategy Central Asia 2012 - 2015, 76 pages (2016)
  • Managing the Transition to a Low-Carbon economy - Perspectives, Policies and Practices from Asia - ADB, ADBI (2015), Chapter 11.
  • A methodology to assess the carbon sequestration potential of semiarid regions in Central Asia (2014) - The 2nd International Conference on Arid Lands Studies
  • Tajikistan - Country situation assessment report on Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies (PRISE) within the framework of the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), Mohr, B, Mustaeva, N, and Wyes, H., CAREC, PRISE, SDPI
  • Narrowing the Gaps through Regional Cooperation Institutions and Governance Systems, Heinrich-Wilhelm Wyes and Michael Lewandowski, Asian Development Bank Institute working paper No. 359, 2012-06-06
  • Health and Environment - managing the linkages for sustainable development - a toolkit for decision makers, UNEP - WHO, 2008
  • Public Health in Central - and Eastern Europe and the role of environmental pollution, NIEHS, Annual Review of Public Health Vol. 19: 153-172 (1998)
  • Global trade liberalization: Challenges and opportunities for World Health - Elke Jakubowski & Henry W. Wyes, Eurohealth, Volume 6 Number 4, Autumn 2000
  • Hazardous waste: its impact on human health in Europe. H W Wyes - Toxicol Ind Health - March 1997 (Vol. 13, Issue 2-3, Pages 109-19

  • Winner of the 2011 Swiss Global ReSource Award for innovative ideas in sustainable watershed management (http://www.resourceaward.org/integrating-pes-and-redd-central-asia-0)