Dr. Tillmann Konrad
„The diversity of life on our planet continues to inspire my curiosity and fascination. At the same time, I am equally driven by the opportunity to work with people from very different contexts and cultures.
Bringing together diverse perspectives, working towards a shared goal, and contributing to something meaningful — this sense of joint purpose is a central motivation in my work.“
Dr. Tillmann Konrad is a conservation professional with a background in ecology and extensive experience in international nature conservation.
He has been working as an independent expert for more than ten years, contributing to a wide range of projects for NGOs, donor institutions and companies.
He studied biology with a focus on tropical biology and animal ecology at the Universities of Heidelberg and Würzburg. Through his doctoral research within the BIOTA West Africa programme, he examined governance structures in a transboundary protected area complex, expanding his work into the institutional and social dimensions of conservation.
His scientific career included extended field research in several countries in Africa and South America, providing first-hand insight into the ecological and socio-economic realities of conservation landscapes.
More recently, he worked for several years as Advisor to the CEO of WWF Germany in Berlin, where he was closely involved in strategic processes and organisational decision-making.
Dr. Konrad is also a member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).
From field research to conservation practice
One of the experiences that has shaped my work most deeply was my doctoral research in the transboundary W–Arly–Pendjari conservation complex across Benin and Burkina Faso — a landscape of more than 30,000 square kilometres, composed of multiple protected areas and management systems.
Working across this landscape, I studied how different governance arrangements function in practice — from local participation structures to institutional coordination across regions and countries. The research combined qualitative and quantitative approaches, including extensive fieldwork, interviews, household surveys and spatial analysis.
What became clear was that conservation outcomes were not determined by ecological conditions alone. They depended heavily on how institutions were organised, how benefits were shared, and whether local resource users were meaningfully involved.
Across the different management systems, governance arrangements varied widely in their ability to create participation, distribute benefits and manage conflicts. Where functioning local institutions existed, conditions for resource users improved significantly. In contrast, fragmented or poorly aligned governance structures often limited the effectiveness of conservation efforts.
This experience fundamentally shaped my perspective: effective conservation is not only a question of ecological design, but of how ecological, institutional and social dimensions come together in practice.