Dagmar Möbius

In 1977, the first “UNEP/UNESCO International Postgraduate Training Course on Environmental Management for Developing Countries” was held at TU Dresden (TUD). The course was developed in 1975 as part of the International Environmental Education Program (IEEP) designed by UNEP and UNESCO.

“CIPSEM was by no means a brainchild of the GDR government,” clarifies Dr. André Lindner. “From 1977 to 1989, the courses were the GDR's contribution to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which was founded in 1974. It had to be open to all developing countries.” It was and continues to be a key component of the contributions that every UNEP member state is called upon to make.
“The Ministry for Environmental Protection and Water Management and its subordinate Center for Environmental Design in Berlin were responsible for managing the course, with Prof. Egon Seidel of the same institution acting as course coordinator. The courses themselves were held at TUD, predominantly with teaching staff from TUD.” This is according to the report published on the occasion of “25 years of environmental management courses at TU Dresden,” written by lecturer Dr. Heiner Kluge, who was the managing director of CIPSEM in 2003 Before him, Prof. Wildfried Bassus and Prof. Manfred Löschau served as Scientific Director and Course Director respectively.

Ten-month long courses until 1992

The training course, which lasted ten months until 1992, were conducted in English The course (which consisted of lectures, seminars, workshops, practicals, and excursions) was supported by English-language study material prepared by the lecturers. The anniversary report also shows that the dual management of the courses between Berlin and Dresden led to constant tensions with regard to scientific content and organizational implementation: “During this period in particular, the efforts of our Dresden colleagues received invaluable professional and moral support from Dr. Bernd von Droste, then Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences at the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris.”

Uncertainty after the fall of the Berlin Wall

In 1989/90, there was “a brief period of uncertainty” regarding the future of the center, reports Prof. Uta Berger, Scientific Director of CIPSEM since 2013. The reason for this was a polarizing discussion that countries with close ties to socialism would be preferable. The fact that the course was able to continue and was from then on financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment is primarily due to the commitment of Prof. Hans Joachim Fiedler (Professor of Soil Science and Rural Studies), who was then Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, and to the support of Dr. Klaus Töpfer, who was Federal Minister of the Environment at that time, and later became UNEP Director. “Without the extraordinary dedication of the individuals involved, it would not have been possible,” Uta Berger is convinced. After the center was briefly transferred to Dresden International University (DIU) between 2012 and 2013, it then returned to TU Dresden. Course Director Dr. Anna Görner and Dr. André Lindner, long-time Program Coordinator and current CIPSEM Ambassador, have been on board ever since.

A brief history of CIPSEM

• 1989 Responsibility transferred exclusively to TUD
• Establishment of a separate department at the Faculty of Civil, Water and Forest Engineering for this course
• 1990 Teaching staff with many years of teaching experience on the course are awarded the University Prize by TUD management
• 1994 Continuation of work in the newly founded Faculty of Forest Sciences, Geo Sciences and Hydrosciences as the “Center for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management”
• Joint funding and organization of the UNEP/UNESCO/Federal Ministry for the Environment training program by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, the Federal Environment Agency, UNEP, UNESCO, and TUD.
• To date, over 2,750 experts and managers from 145 countries have participated t in the CIPSEM courses.

Contact:
TU Dresden
Faculty of Environmental Sciences
Centre for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management (CIPSEM)
Anna Görner, Course director

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