On May 4th 2022, LT&C held its Annual General Meeting in Berlin at the office of the German League for Nature with members present in person and online. The AGM presented the Annual Report 2021 of the organization and the plans for a merger with the German organization Ecological Tourism in Europe (Ö.T.E. e.V.) to join forces to develop a stronger, more structured organization, which can continue to actively unite members around the vision of a world where the tourism industry is the main patron of a global network of well-managed protected areas representing and sustaining the world’s diversity of habitats and ecosystems, supporting the implementation of the global goal to protect 30% of respective terrestrial and marine habitats of the planet by 2030. As part of the AGM, members unanimously voted for the merger of LT&C and ÖTE. Peter Prokosch, Ottar Nakken and Anne Franze Jordanov stepped back from the board and members favourably voted for the new board setup, which now consists of Diana Körner (chair), Michael Meyer (co-chair, newly elected), Oliver Hillel, Denise Landau, Sergio Chiarandini, Harald Förster (newly elected) and Greg Bakunzi (newly elected). Peter Prokosch was voted as Honorary President of the organization. On behalf of the new board, Diana says:
”I feel very honoured to have been elected chair of Linking Tourism & Conservation, an international NGO with a truly global network of 248 members of tourism and conservation professionals and advocates, all actively pursuing the 30×30 vision. Through the dedicated work of the co-founders Peter and Ottar, over the past eight years LT&C, as a fully voluntary organisation, has profiled 52 international examples where tourism directly supports protected areas, which are of fundamental relevance facing the biodiversity and climate change challenges of our times, and which we aim to further replicate and grow. I am excited about this new chapter, working alongside co-chair Michael Meyer and fellow board members Denise, Oliver, Sergio, Harald and Greg. We need the support of our members more than ever for the merger that LT&C is planning with the German organization ÖTE to strengthen our global impact at policy and protected area level.”
