Dirk Kloss

Mr Kloss "grew up in West Germany. After leaving the University of Marburg with a Bachelor's in Geography, Ethnology and Communications, he worked for leading newspapers, radio and TV stations in the USA, Germany and Hong Kong as a correspondent, editor, and news anchor. Simultaneously, he completed graduate studies at the University of Illinois and Hamburg University with a Master's in Economic Geography. In the early 90s Mr Kloss pursued research in Costa Rica on debt-for-nature swaps and other innovative finance mechanisms for the conservation of Latin America's tropical forests, which in 1994 was published as the first German book on this unfolding subject.

"Over the following seven years Mr Kloss worked in India, Vietnam, Laos, and China on developing country assistance programmes in environment and rural development for the German government, namely GTZ and KfW (the German Bank for Reconstruction and Development), as well as for an international consulting firm. In 2001 Mr Kloss retired from German development assistance to put some of his own savings where his mouth had been for so many years of work with poor farmers: planting trees for long-term investment, coupled with environmental stabilization and short-term management income. His FSC-certified mixed plantation of sustainably managed, high-end tropical timber in Panama established and growing well, he returned as a Senior Advisor to the world of international conservation finance.

"On behalf of The Nature Conservancy and a Conservation Finance Alliance of NGOs, bi- and multilateral donor organisations, Mr Kloss developed training guides on innovative mechanisms, and assisted protected areas worldwide to apply them and become sustainable. He continues to work as an independent advisor to UNDP, the World Bank, and others."

• Treasurer of Natural Partners