With great sadness in our hearts we inform you of the passing away of our friend, Mr Wolfgang Burhenne - one of the founding fathers of the Alpine Convention.
Mr Burhenne was a key driving force for the establishment of the Alpine Convention and several other international organizations dealing with sustainable development such as CITES or IUCN. He was a mentor for so many people from around the world and left a lasting impression on so many international environmental lawyers and politicians.
The current President of the Alpine Convention, Mr Andrä Rupprechter, highlighted Mr Burhenne's lasting contributions to a sustainable development and protection of the Alps stating “Wolfgang Burhenne was a pioneer and true believer in sustainable development. His contribution to the protection of the Alps and his work as a founding father of the Alpine Convention will remain unforgotten”. In March 2015, Wolfgang Burhenne was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honor for Services by the Federal President of Austria.
The Secretary General of the Alpine Convention, Mr Markus Reiterer, stated that "with W. Burhenne the world has lost a role model for sustainability and I have lost a close grandfatherly friend”.
The Team of the Permanent Secretariat and the whole Alpine Convention family express our condolences to Mr Burhenne's family. We will continue our endeavours to keep Mr Burhenne’s legacy alive.