Dipl. Geol. Harald Köthe succeeds Prof. Dr. Demuth as the Director of the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC).

Most recently, Mr. Köthe worked as a senior government official at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) in the department “Climate, Environmental Protection, Hydrology, BfG “. Here, he was responsible for the technical supervision of the BfG and the WSV (Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration). In the department, he initiated and headed i.a. the KLIWAS research programme and paved the way for the BMVI expert network. He has left his mark on the hydrology of the WSV for more than 10 years and established the task “adaptation to climate change”. Moreover, he was Chairman of the Environmental Committee (EnviCom) of PIANC for 10 years, where he made the world’s oldest organisation for shipping and waterways infrastructure fit to tackle the new challenges facing navigable waters in the wake of global change. Under his direction, numerous practical international recommendations have been developed and published. Harald Köthe also acted as German representative in the Environmental Committee of CEDA and was actively involved in the development of the European network SedNet. Furthermore, his scope of experience includes a leading function in the field of oil spill response in the oceans and an active involvement in national and European Committees. Harald Köthe provides a wealth of water-related and practice-oriented experience plus a broad national and international network from the realm of ministries, technical authorities and science.

He studied geology at the university of Bonn and already worked at the BfG as a scientific officer in various departments and functions from 1988 to 2004. In his new function, Mr. Köthe will now contribute his wide-ranging experiences to the work of the ICWRGC.