Dr Hans Friederich FRGS is a Dutch geographer with a PhD from the University of Bristol, UK. He is global Ambassador of the World Bamboo Organisation and Senior Advisor to the European Bamboo Programme which is managed by Bamboologic in the Netherlands. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the ArtEZ University of the Arts research project “Bamboe Europe”
He is working with the SUNx Programme in Brussels and the Malta Tourism Authority as the Registrar of the global register of climate friendly travel and tourism ambitions. Hans is also a guest lecturer in a diploma course on climate friendly tourism that is organized by SUNxMalta and the Malta Institute for Tourism Studies.
Hans is also a member of the Expert Panel of the Life Terra Foundation, which manages a large European tree planting programme.
From 2014 to 2019, Hans was the Head of the Secretariat of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR), a treaty-based Inter-Governmental Organisation with its Headquarters in Beijing, China. The position is treated as an ambassadorial post, and he was a member of the diplomatic corps in Beijing.
Prior to his appointment as Director-General of INBAR, Hans was the IUCN Regional Director for Europe, based in the IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland. Before that he worked and lived in Thailand, Vietnam, Kenya and Botwana.
Currently, he is living on the island of Gozo in Malta, with his wife who is a painter and interior designer.
I lived and worked in:
Tilburg, The Netherlands
1955 – 1973
A very happy childhood in a wooden house with a large garden
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1973 – 1977
First degree at the Physical Geography and Soil Science Laboratory of the University of Amsterdam
Bristol, UK
1977 – 1982
PhD at the Geography Department of the University of Bristol, based mainly on fieldwork in the Mendip Hills
Sarawak, Malaysia
1978 and 1980
Two short-term assignments as karst speleologist during expeditions to Gunung Mulu National Park
Java, Indonesia
1982
Short-term assignment as a karst speleologist in Gunung Sewu
Tutume, Botswana
1982 – 1985
District Officer (Lands), Tutume sub-district
Serowe, Botswana
1985 – 1987
District Officer (Lands), Central District
Kasane, Botswana
1988
District Officer (Lands), Chobe District
Nairobi, Kenya
1989- 1994
Senior Project Officer, East Africa Regional Officer, IUCN
Hanoi, Vietnam
1994 – 1997
Chief Technical Advisor, National Environment Agency in Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
Hanoi, Vietnam
1997 – 1999
Country Representative, IUCN
Bangkok, Thailand
1999 – 2002
Coordinator, UNDP/GEF Mekong Wetlands Programme
Bangkok, Thailand
2003 – 2004
Regional Water and Wetlands Coordinator, Asia Regional Office, IUCN
Gland, Switzerland
2004 – 2008
Head of Strategic Partnership Unit, IUCN Headquarters
Gland, Switzerland
2008 – 2013
IUCN Regional Director for Europe
Beijing, China
2014 – 2019
Director-General, INBAR
Victoria, Gozo, Malta
2019 – present
Advisor and Board Member
