Forestry
Climate change and the increasing demand for wood poses new challenges for the forestry and timber industry worldwide. Complexity of social and economic requirements is increasing and requires innovative solutions for a sustainable and competitive forestry and timber industry.
- We support private and public actors in forest management, operations and conservation.
- We identify, validate and implement investments in sustainable forestry for investors.
- We develop concepts for the wood industry to ensure sustainable procurement and identify market potentials.
- We offer analytical services and decision-making support to policy makers and private sector for the further development of the forestry and timber sector.
The division offers decision support to actors in the forest sector along the following thematic areas.
Our services
Forest management
- Forest inventories, forest planning, forest evaluation,
- Forest ecology, ecological mapping
- Geoinformatics and IT Services for forest enterprises
- Development of forest owners associations, market integration of small growers
Sector analytics
- Market studies, international trade
- Cluster development and regional studies
- Location assessment, and raw material logistics
Investment advisory services
- Technical, financial and E&S due diligence of forest investments
- Forest certification including environmental and social governance
- Fund level advisory, i.e. pipeline development, investment advisory and technical assistance
Division team
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Veronica Alonso
MBA and MSc in Energy
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Veronica Alonso works on macro and microeconomic analyses of projects in Latin America, Asia and Africa. She develops surveys and analytical tools for forest sector reviews and value chain diagnostics. Furthermore, she is developing business models for enterprises and investment proposals.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 40
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Andrea Braun
MSc Environmental Governance
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Andrea Braun manages the FSC® certification of our forest operations in Paraguay, and is responsible for the documentation and reporting activities for investors. In addition, she develops activities in the field of environmental and social responsibility and coordinates their implementation.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 40
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Irene Calo
MSc Forest Management
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Irene Calo primarily develops forest production models as well as forest inventory and monitoring systems. She is experienced with carbon modeling and verification projects in the field of climate finance, with a regional focus on Asia and Africa. Additionally, Irene Calo supports our forestry operations in Paraguay in the fields of production and E&S monitoring.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 35
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Germar Csapek
PhD, MSc Forest Management
Sales Manager of UNIQUE Wood
Germar Csapek heads the product management and distribution of our forest enterprises in Paraguay, especially of parquet and timber. Furthermore, he is responsible for the FSC® certification of the sales division.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 0
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Matthias Dees
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. in Remote Sensing and Forest Inventory, M.Sc. Forestry
Senior Consultant in the Forestry Division
Matthias Dees is an expert for remote sensing and forest inventories with more than 30 years of experience in method development, project design and implementation both in the private as well as in the academic sector. Matthias Dees geographical focus is in Germany, Europe, Asia, South-America and Africa.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 45
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Christian Held
PhD & MSc Forest Management, Assistant Tax Consultant
Lead Consultant in the Forestry Division
Christian Held is an expert in conducting investment project due diligence, plantation asset valuation, market studies, as well as for the development of sectoral and cluster studies for the wood industry at the national and international level. Furthermore, he is addresses topics regarding countries of origin and legality evidence for wood product certification and FLEGT. His specialization includes wood energy and the development of value chains in developing countries.
Tel. +49 761 208 354 22
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Paul Jacovelli
MSc Forestry/Land Management
Lead Consultant in the Forestry Division
Paul Jacovelli has over 30 years of experience in forestry development, with an emphasis on plantation forestry in Africa. He has worked both in the public and private sector. Paul Jacovelli has a broad practical background as well as in depth knowledge in planning and management of forests for the sustainable production of bioenergy, sawn wood, and other value-added products. Between 2002 and 2012 Paul Jacovelli led the Sawlog Production Grant Scheme (SPGS) in Uganda.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 16
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Eva Kehayova
MSc Forest Sciences
Consultant in the Forestry Consulting and Timber Ecomomic Division
Eva Kehayova works in the field of forest economics and forest policy with a focus on private forest owner organizations, as well as on the implementation of forest sector reforms both on the national and international level. She is involved in projects in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has experience in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 55
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Miguel Kohling
M.Sc. Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Aeronautical Engineering
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Miguel Kohling’s field of expertise is remote sensing based on air- and space born systems and spatial data analysis for forestry and land use (land use/land cover classification). His core competence lies in the development of methodologies, process automation, and big data analysis. Furthermore, he is experienced with the design and implementation of national inventories, and provides professional advice on the application of new technologies.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 18
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Eva Meier-Landsberg
PhD and MSc Forest Management
Deputy head of the Forestry Division
Eva Meier-Landsberg works on cross-cutting issues related to the forestry and timber industry. She is a certified expert on energy, environmental and quality management. The focus of her work lies on the analysis and optimization of supply chains and processes. Eva Meier-Landsberg worked in the German Federal Research Department for five years.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 58
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Leif Nutto
PhD & MSc Forest Management
Lead Consultant in the Forestry Division
Leif Nutto has long-term international project experiences on the subject of growth modelling and utilization of forest plantations and natural forests. His focus is on wood production, timber harvest and transport, logistics and investments in the forest sector. He has supervised numerous research projects and has worked as a consultant in Europe, South America and Africa.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 34
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Metodi Panev
MSc. Forest Ecology and Management; MSs Geoinformatics
Senior Consultant in the Forestry Division
Metodi Panev's main field of expertise is GIS, remote sensing and spatial analysis in forestry and land use. Furthermore, he has extensive experience in design and implementation of forest inventories at local, regional and national levels. Metodi worked on numerous projects in Germany, Eastern Europe, South America and Asia.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 54
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Maximilian Sperlich
M.Sc. Environmental Sciences
Consultant in the Forestry Department
Maximilian Sperlich's core competencies are geoinformatics and data science. He is responsible for the management of geodata and the development of software in the forestry sector. His specialized fields are forest data collection and analysis of airborne technology 3D point clouds from LiDAR and photogrammetry. He manages analytics of large data sets, and machine learning algorithms.
Tel. +49 761 208534-18
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Axel Weinreich
PhD & MSc Forest Management
Lead Consultant in the Forestry Division; Head of the Task Team Forest Information Management
Axel Weinreich has more than 20 years of experience in working on sustainable forest management. He has in-depth knowledge and a broad experience on business process and information management, IT and GIS systems in forestry, forest planning and inventories, as well as bioenergy and logistics. Axel Weinreich has led and supported numerous projects in Germany, East Africa and especially South-East Europe.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 24
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Olivier Wenzek
M. Sc. in Computer Sciences
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Olivier Wenzek´s core competences are information system design, business intelligence and data science. He is responsible for the development and extension of UNIQUE‘s digital tools and information systems. The focus of his work lies in designing web-based systems and data mining solutions. In this context he works with large datasets and custom-made digital solutions.
Tel. +49 761 208534-14
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Matthias Wenzel
MSc Forest Management, Assessor of the Forest Service
Senior Consultant in the Forestry Division; Head of the Task Team Forest Management Planning and Forest Conservation
For over ten years, Matthias Wenzel has worked on topics related to forest planning and forest ecology. His core competencies include forest management planning, the development of habitat and conservation mapping, management plans and forest inventories. Although Matthias Wenzel's regional focus is Germany, he has also worked in Eastern Europe, Africa and Central America.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 21
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Bernd Wippel
PhD and MSc Forest Economy, MSc Economics
Managing Director of UNIQUE; Head of the Forestry Division
Bernd Wippel focuses on economic analyses, organizational development and forest policy related issues. He has more than 20 years of consulting experience in the forestry and timber sector. Bernd Wippel advises public and private sector clients throughout Europe and has many years of experience in the natural forest and plantation sector in South America.
Tel. +49 761 208 534 23
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Marlène Zehfuß
MSc Forest Ecosystem Analysis and Information Processing
Consultant in the Forestry Division
Marlène Zehfuß is specialized in the analysis and modeling of forest ecosystems. She works primarily on the management and (statistical) analysis of large data sets linked to GIS. Moreover, her work includes forest inventories, forest valuation reports and consultancies for forest enterprises. Marlène Zehfuß works predominantly in Germany.
Tel. +49 761 208534 15
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Associated experts
- Franz-Josef Lückge
- Metodi Sotirov