Marcel Silvius has a Dutch Judiceum Cum Laude Docterandus degree (equivalent to MSc) in Nature Conservation from the Agricultural University of Wageningen and in Biology and Tropical Soil Sciences from the State University of Utrecht. He speaks five languages: Dutch, English, German, French and Bahasa Indonesian.
Marcel started his international career in 1983-1986 with studies of peat swamp and tropical coastal ecosystems and waterbirds in Indonesia and Malaysia. He founded the largest country programme of Wetlands International in Indonesia in 1986 – 1992. Marcel has considerable experience in development of integrated wetland conservation and sustainable development programmes, strategic planning and fundraising.
His work has included considerable liaison with international agencies and the donor community. In the early 1990s as Technical Programme Director of the Asian Wetland Bureau he spear-headed and supported the establishment of other sub-regional programmes and offices of the organisation in Thailand, Cambodia (Mekong) and China. He has been involved in developing multi-sectoral national wetland action plans in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, China and the Russian Federation. In the late 1990s as the Head of Sub-regional Programmes he spearheaded and supervised the establishment and programme development of our offices in the Russian Federation, Ukraine (Black Sea) and West Africa and managed the Central European Peatlands Project.
Since 2001 Marcel has been the Senior Programme Manager of our Wetlands and Livelihoods Programme, and has developed and supervised the implementation of the Global Peatland Initiative, Partners for Wise Use of Wetlands, Wetlands and Poverty Reduction Programme, the Central Kalimantan Peatlands Project and the new Wetlands and Livelihoods Programme (2009-2010). He has published over 50 scientific articles and reports.