Founded in 2011, the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development has become a driver of development in applied research, practice-oriented teaching, policy and practice advice, and internationalisation.

Our achievements include world-renowned research results, the establishment and expansion of protected areas and UNESCO biosphere reserves, and the UNESCO World Heritage property ‘Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe’. At Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, we were actively involved in the establishment and development of the Biosphere Reserves Institute, and contributed to its becoming a UNESCO Category 2 Institute.

We strive for a wider adoption of an eco/system approach in nature conservation, natural resource management and sustainable development. People-centred and ecosystem-based. We are committed to innovation in academic education. 

We stand with Ukraine and our Ukrainian friends.

In 2005, Eberswalde students travelled to Ukraine for the first time and established the first contact with the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Since 2006, we built up the partnership with Ukrainian partners such as the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Since then, excursions with HNEE students to Ukraine have been organised every year. Numerous joint project activities followed, among others on the topics of biosphere reserve management and UNESCO World Natural Heritage. In the meantime, cooperation has been established with several biosphere reserves and universities in different parts of Ukraine. A special aspect of the cooperation is transboundary and peace-building nature conservation. There were joint activities and projects with partners in western and northern Ukraine as well as in Moldova, Romania and the Russian Federation.

From 2015 onwards, the cooperation between the HNEE and the UNFU was intensified. Since then, there has been a very intensive academic exchange between students and academics every year. The partnership is underpinned by various projects funded under ERASMUS+ and DAAD programmes. They deal with civil society engagement in sustainable forest management, transboundary cooperation in teaching and practice, ecosystem-based sustainable development, ecosystem services, conflict prevention in Eastern Europe, UNESCO biosphere regions, sustainable transformation, cooperative learning to the development of jointly implemented modules. 

The Russian war of aggression continues to fill us with great sadness. We try to help as much as we can and support our partners in Ukraine. We focus on exchange and networks and believe in ecological and social resilience.