About

Dr. Yannick Kuehl is the Senior Director Asia-Pacific of the National Geographic Society (NGS), based in Hong Kong. 

NGS is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization that pushes the boundaries of exploration to further our understanding of our planet and empower us all to generate solutions for a more sustainable future. For 130 years, NGS has funded groundbreaking scientists and explorers and shared their findings with the world. Yannick is the lead programmatic representative for NGS to advance NGS' priorities in Asia and to grow the community of Explorers in Asia. For over 10 years, Yannick worked on various ecosystem-based sustainability issues in Asia ? e.g. on food production, climate change, sustainable consumption, biodiversity and forestry.

Previous to NGS, Yannick worked as Regional Director, East Asia, of TRAFFIC, an alliance of WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). TRAFFIC ensures that trade in wild animals and plants is not a threat to the conservation of nature. Based at WWF in Hong Kong, Yannick directed TRAFFIC's conservation programme in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India and Nepal and was leading the implementation of TRAFFIC projects in research, policy advice, communications and capacity-building. Before that, he was based in Beijing for three years as a Forest and Climate Change Expert for the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ). 

He obtained his BSc at Humboldt University in his hometown Berlin - with a short stint at the University of Mauritius. He then obtained his MSc in 2007 and PhD in agricultural economics in 2010 at the University of Hohenheim and the China Agricultural University - where he also worked as an Agricultural Economist. His doctoral thesis focused on sustainable resource use in the North China Plain.