Wolfgang Haber

Wolfgang Haber (13 September 1925 – 13 August 2026) was a German biologist who helped establish the field of landscape ecology, teaching at the Technical University of Munich from 1966 to 1993. He pioneered research and teaching based on ecological principles of nature conservation, state and landscape management, to apply ecology in land use, especially in nature conservation, agricultural use, land consolidation, and ecologically oriented planning. He was an adviser to governments in Germany, such as the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and was influential in international organisations. He was instrumental in the establishment of the first German National Parks, Bavarian Forest National Park and Berchtesgaden National Park. Haber became the first recipient of the German Environmental Prize in 1993.

Life and career Haber was born in Datteln on 13 September 1925.

From 1957 to 1962, Haber was a research assistant for Heinrich Walter in Hohenheim, and then from 1962 to 1966 a curator and deputy director of the Westphalian Museum of Natural History in Münster, where he was responsible for nature conservation and landscape management in Westphalia. Haber rejected mystifying notions about the nature of humankind and the natural world, saying that the path to a sustainable future can only succeed if we return to reality and focus our attention on the key problems of the 21st century, which he identified as the finite nature of resources and the immense population growth. He called for an understanding that these factual processes as the result of human actions, building on the human-ecological perspectives of Carl von Carlowitz.

Awards In 1993, Haber was awarded the first German Environmental Prize from the (DBU, Federal Foundation for the Environment).

Publications Haber's publications include:

Wolfgang Haber: Die unbequemen Wahrheiten der Ökologie [The uncomfortable truths of ecology]. Oekom Verlag 2010. (also published in English) Konstanze Schönthaler, Wolfgang Haber: Concept for integrated environmental monitoring. Umweltbundesamt, Berlin 1998. Wolfgang Haber: Nachhaltiger Umgang mit Böden. Initiative für eine internationale Bodenkonvention. [Sustainable management of soils. Initiative for an international soil convention.] Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich 1999. Wolfgang Haber: Quantifizierung raumspezifischer Entwicklungsziele des Naturschutzes [Quantification of space-specific development goals for nature conservation]. Verlag der ARL, Hannover 1993 Wolfgang Haber: Ökologische Grundlagen des Umweltschutzes [Ecological Principles of Environmental Protection]. Economica-Verlag, Bonn 1993. Haber, Wolfgang / Jürgen Salzwedel (Eds.): Umweltprobleme der Landwirtschaft [Environmental Problems of Agriculture] Rat von Sachverständigen für Umweltfragen, JB Metzler-Poeschel, Stuttgart, 1993. Wolfgang Haber: Ökosystemforschung Berchtesgaden [Ecosystem Research Berchtesgaden]. Forschungsbericht 101 04 040/04, UBA-FB 86–114. Berlin 1990. Wolfgang Haber: Naturschutz und Landesentwicklung, Forderungen der Ökologie [Nature Conservation and Land Development – Demands of Ecology]. With an introduction by Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker. Second edition, Callwey, Munich 1974. Wolfgang Haber: Naturschutz und Landesentwicklung, Forderungen der Ökologie [Nature Conservation and Land Development – Demands of Ecology]. DP system Andernach 1972.