Susanne Altvater, Ass.iur.
Susanne Altvater (née Friedrich) is a Fellow with Ecologic Institute and Ecologic Legal and coordinates the institute’s activities in the field of marine issues. She is specialized in European and international law. Her current work focuses on (marine) biodiversity protection, synergies between biodiversity and climate change as well as adaptation measures. Furthermore, she works on issues related to landscape planning, environmental monitoring and EU agriculture policy. As legal advisor, she supports international negotiations on marine issues concerning the high seas. A native speaker of German, she is fluent in English and has a good knowledge of Spanish.
Before joining Ecologic Institute in 2008, Susanne Altvater worked at the German Federal Agency for Nature Protection in the Biodiversity unit. Her primary areas of responsibility were issues concerning: access to and benefit sharing of genetic resources; indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights; marine genetic resources; protected areas on the high seas; synergies between biodiversity and climate change; and the German Biodiversity Strategy. Maintaining a dialogue between the economic and scientific communities was an important part of this work.
Between 2002 and 2006 Susanne Altvater did research for the project “Long term ecosystem observation in the UNESCO biosphere reserves in Brandenburg, Germany” at the FH Eberswalde. Additionally, she worked on projects related to landscape architecture and agriculture and gave lectures.
During her work at a law firm between 2000 and 2002, she was responsible for water and waste issues and also focused on mediation.
Susanne Altvater has an interdisciplinary education. After she studied law at the University of Erlangen, Germany and the University of Cork, Ireland, with a strong focus on international and environmental law, she earned a diploma in landscape architecture and nature conservation at the FH Eberswalde, Germany, where she focused her interest on land use, tourism and landscape architecture. During her studies, she performed two half-year internships in the rainforest areas of Guatemala and Australia. Here she focused on the management of protected areas, traditional knowledge and alternative sources of income for indigenous populations.