Wolfgang Haber

Wolfgang Haber (born 13 September 1925 in Datteln) is a German biologist and one of the "fathers of Landscape ecology" in Germany.

Wolfgang Haber studied Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, and Geography at the University of Münster, University of Munich, University of Basel, University of Stuttgart, and University of Hohenheim. From 1957 to 1962 he was a research assistant at Heinrich Walter in Hohenheim, then from 1962 to 1966 a Kustos and deputy director of the Museum of Natural History, Münster. From 1966 he was head of the newly founded Institute for Landscape Management at the TU Munich in Weihenstephan (Freising), which he later renamed as Chair for Landscape Ecology. He held this chair until his retirement in 1993.

His fields of research are fundamental questions of general and theoretical ecology; Application of ecology in land use, in particular in nature conservation, agricultural use and land consolidation; Development, planning and support of nature reserves, protected habitats, natural and national parks; Ecosystem research and modeling; Ecologically oriented planning.

Haber has decisively influenced the scientific and environmental policy development of nature conservation in Germany and in the international sphere. He took a leading role in the founding of the biotope mapping and the construction of the first German national park (Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald, National Park Berchtesgaden). He has pioneered his teaching and research activities since the 1960s on ecological principles of nature conservation, state and landscape management as well as landscape planning.

Wolfgang Haber was among other things a member of the Advisory Board for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany, and since 1986 at the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; 1979 to 1990 President of the Society for Ecology, the Association of Ecologists of German-speaking Countries; 1985 Chairman of the Council of Experts on Environmental Issues of the Federal Government (SRU), and 1990 to 1996 President of the International Association of Ecology (Intecol), the umbrella organization of the national scientific ecology associations. Since 1980, he has been a member of the German Council for Provincial Administration, and from 1991 to 2003 he was also its spokesman.

Haber was awarded in 1993 as the first environmental prize of the Federal Foundation for the Environment. The award was founded above all with its commitment to nature conservation that goes far beyond teaching and research. [2] For his scientific achievements he received numerous other awards, among them the Bundesverdienstkreuz first class (1986), the Bavarian Order of Merit (1973) and the Maximiliansorden.

In the course of his decades of work, Haber has repeatedly dealt with the state of ecology in society and research. In his 2011 work entitled "The Uncomfortable Truths of Ecology - A Sustainability Perspective for the 21st Century", he argues that "sustainability can only be achieved if we do not transfigure ecology." Haber gives mystifying images of the essence of man and a clear rejection of nature: in his opinion, the path to a sustainable future can only be achieved if we look at reality and focus on the key problems of the 21st century. He sees this in the finitude of resources and immense population growth. It calls on people to understand and accept these factual processes as human actions. In doing so, he ties in with a part of the human-ecological perspectives of Carl von Carlowitz.

• Wolfgang Haber: The uncomfortable truths of ecology. Oekom Verlag 2010. ISBN 9783865812179 (also published in English)
• Konstanze Schönthaler, Wolfgang Haber: Concept for integrated environmental monitoring. Environmental Protection Agency, Berlin 1998.
• Wolfgang Haber: Sustainable management of soils. Initiative for an international soil concession. South German Newspaper , Munich 1999.
• Wolfgang Haber: Quantification of space-specific development goals for nature conservation. Leaving the ARL, Hannover 1993
• Wolfgang Haber: Ecological Principles of Environmental Protection. Economica publishing house, Bonn 1993.
• Haber, Wolfgang / Jürgen Salzwedel (Eds.): Environmental Problems of Agriculture. Specialist Ecology. Edited by the Council of Environmental Experts. JB Metzler-Poeschel, Stuttgart, 1993.
• Wolfgang Haber: Ecosystem Research Berchtesgaden. Research Report 101 04 040/04, UBA-FB 86-114. Berlin 1990.
• Wolfgang Haber: Nature conservation and land development, demands of ecology. With the introduction of Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker. Second edition, Callwey, Munich 1974.
• Wolfgang Haber: Nature Conservation and Land Development - Demands of Ecology. DP system adernach 1972.
• Literature from and about Wolfgang Haber in the catalog of the German National Library