Desert*Net Germany: from network to association

Desert*Net Germany, a network of German research institutions dealing with the issue of desertification, is now an official association in Germany which will be also officially registered soon. It will be registered under the name “Desert*Net Germany – German Scientific Network for Combating Desertification”.

The founding institutions of Desert*Net Germany decided at their assembly in Bonn on April 13 to become an officially registered association. Fourteen member institutes out of 26 as well as two new research institutes joined the association already. The association is legally competent with immediate effect.

On the same occasion in Bonn, PD Dr. Christopher Martius from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) was elected unanimously by the new board of Desert*Net as the association’s new speaker. Dr. Martius has been a member since the beginning of Desert*Net Germany and its co-speaker for many years. He succeeds Dr. Mariam Akhtar-Schuster from the “Biozentrum Klein Flottbek“ and Botanical Garden of Hamburg University.

Desert*Net’s secretariat, which was located at the “Biozentrum Klein Flottbek“since 2001, will be transferred to ZEF in the near future.