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You are here: Home / General Article / The Michael Succow Foundation turns 20

16. May 2019 | Monika Griefahn

The Michael Succow Foundation turns 20

For two days in early May, a number of people committed to the protection of climate and the environment met in the north-eastern German town of Greifswald to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Michael Succow Foundation. Among them were Michael Otto, a prominent entrepreneur from Hamburg, Alexander Bonde, Secretary General of the German Federal Environmental Foundation, and Peter Südbeck, head of the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park.

People on a field trip, holding a mapThe foundation has done quite a bit for the protection of the environment − just like Succow himself before he established it. He is a biologist and agronomist who for decades has been passionately committed to conserving nature and biodiversity. As long ago as 1997, we awarded him with the Right Livelihood Award – also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize” – for his outstanding contributions to the establishment of a number of large-scale conservation reserves in Eastern Germany, Eastern Europe, Ethiopia and Asia. Also among his achievements is the prevalence of valuable conservation programs and related course contents in today’s higher education. The prize money associated with the Right Livelihood Award at the time enabled him to start the Michael Succow Foundation.

Serving people, protecting nature

So what has the foundation been able to initiate? The Minister of Energy, Infrastructure and Digitalization in the north-eastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Christian Pegel, provided a comprehensive summary: Michael Succow, he said, had used his prize money very meaningfully. The foundation had grown because it had pursued an integrative, cooperative approach and had worked together with numerous partners. In fact, Succow has used federal and state subsidies to buy land and cultivate it according to the principles of nature conservation. He has also used development aid to promote projects that are helpful both for people as well as the environment in countries where hardly anyone else from here is working, such as Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Ethiopia. Many practical examples from this invaluable work were presented as part of the anniversary event.

However, the foundation is also active “on its own doorstep” in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and specifically in the Greifswald area. It campaigns against the spread of the agricultural industry, which has been acquiring countless hectares of land with the sole intention of using them as dumping grounds for animal waste from non-local farmers. Michael Succow described the situation in the state, which ultimately represents nothing more than land grabbing. He also shed light on the far-reaching consequences: In many villages, as many as half of the residents voted for the right-wing Eurosceptic party, the AfD, because they no longer saw any meaningful sense in their work. It was an example Succow used to emphasise the interconnectedness of quality of life, diversity and meaningfulness of life.

However, these are qualities that increasingly fall by the wayside in modern industrial agriculture where ever larger fields are being cultivated by ever fewer people, and mostly with monocultures of corn, oilseed rape or wheat. As a result, the soil becomes increasingly desolate and is successively lost.

More water for the moor

Information board peninsula MelowThe foundation is trying to counteract this, as we were able to experience in a practical way during a trip to the peninsula Melow, which it has taken over from the federal government as national natural heritage. On Melow, the foundation fills trenches, thereby raising water levels in the moor so that peat can build up once again. It’s a way of creating natural areas that, just like extensive forests and intact soils, act as important reservoirs for carbon dioxide, thus making a major contribution to climate protection.

Hedge plants help alleviate the nutrient burden that’s built up as a result of the surrounding agricultural use. Mowing and sheep grazing contribute to protecting the slopes of the hill from scrub encroachment. As a result, valuable nutrient-poor grassland can emerge, which in turn provides a habitat for many specialised plants and animal species – the increased biodiversity contributes to the stabilisation of the ecosystem. In order for distant city dwellers to be able to take a look for themselves, the foundation has developed an app: It is called “Echt:Natur”, and is available on Google Play and in the App Store.

Charism and charm

One thing becomes clear once again during the two-day anniversary event: in order to achieve change, it always requires personalities with charism and charm who keep their eyes on the prize even in less understanding surroundings and convince people to participate. One of them is Michael Succow!

We wish his foundation all the best and every success in the fight against lacking knowledge and ignorance. The 6 May publication of the report of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES on the projected mass extinction of species, the urgency of this kind of work has been made obvious once more. Campaigners like Succow need many companions.

More about the Michael Succow Foundation

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Appointments

March 28, 2023: Keynote at the Automotive Industry Association VDA on “New Solutions for Climate Neutral Drives” Read more about the conference here (in German).

March 30, 2023: Participation in the real estate congress of the Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW). Discussion in the panel “Departure into the circular economy.” Click here for the program (in German).

April 4, 2023: Announcement of the “Potato of the year” in the open-air museum at the Kiekeberg

April 20, 2023: Start of the four-day nature film festival Lüneburger Heide under the patronage of Monika Griefahn. You will find the program here shortly (in German).


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April 20-24, 2023: 2nd Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath with Monika Griefahn as patron. At four venues in the region of the Lüneburger Heide Nature Park, after 2021, it is once again: “Film off!” Visitors can expect fantastic nature films, stirring documentaries and, above all, great conversations with filmmakers and experts. From now on, check the status of the program planning at www.films4future.de (German).


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Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


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In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


Right Livelihood Laureate 2021

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They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


Federal Order of Merit

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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