Juan Mayr


Juan Mayr Maldonado is a Colombian photographer and environmentalist currently serving as Ambassador of Colombia to Germany. From 1993 to 1996, Mayr was elected Vice President of the World Conservation Union. In 1998 he became Minister of Environment of Colombia. He has also been president of the United Nations' conference on Biosafety.

Goldman Prize

Mayr was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1993, for leading a struggle for protecting biodiversity in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. He lived two years with the Kogi, and founded the Fundación Pro-Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in 1986. In 1994 the Colombian government returned 19,500 hectares of traditional lands to the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada.

Ambassadorship

On 30 August 2011, President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón appointed Mayr Ambassador of Colombia to Germany during a ceremony at the Palace of Nariño; Mayr presented his credentials to President Christian Wulff on 19 October 2011 at the Bellevue Palace.

Selected works