Josef "Sepp" Settele

The global scientific community has lost a remarkable champion! Prof. Dr. Josef Settele – Sepp to almost everyone in the IPBES community – has passed away.

There are very few people whose lives and legacies justify labels like ‘a towering figure’ or ‘visionary’ – but Sepp Settele’s work, legacy and life more than justify such tributes.

We mourn the loss of an exceptional scientist and one of the most effective and powerful international voices for nature of recent generations.

Sepp was a pillar of IPBES’s success for the entirety of its existence. He was a lead author on the Pollination and Asia-Pacific Assessments, a key participant in the IPBES workshops on biodiversity and climate change, a member of the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel (MEP), and Co-Chair of the IPBES Global Assessment, a landmark report that put biodiversity at the centre of the global societal agenda. Sepp was currently serving his second term on the MEP and was a member of the Management Committee for the second global assessment. He was a tireless advocate for better-informed policy and action for people and for nature, always ready to take on new challenges.

Embodying the IPBES science-policy mission, Sepp’s contributions transcended research. He was a truly outstanding communicator – able to engage, educate and mobilize the whole spectrum of audiences, from global leaders to eminent scientists, to the media and the general public – and even to children.

But perhaps his most enduring legacy was the warmth, sincerity, humility, friendliness and generosity with which he treated every person. As comfortable with Presidents and ministers as he was with early career researchers and students, Sepp’s wry humour and unique approach helped to shape and guide the careers and achievements of countless collaborators over the decades of his professional life. He was never too busy to offer advice or guidance, and never too accomplished to support those who needed it. Through all this work with IPBES, Sepp always promoted the younger experts and Fellows, ensuring their contributions were tangible, and securing the next generations of leading scientists.

To Sepp’s wife, family and friends – we share your grief at his passing, and thank you so much for having shared his life with us.

To his colleagues in so many endeavors – from the Helmholtz Centre at UFZ, to the IPCC and the German Advisory Council on the Environment, from SPRING to the EU’s PPA and NRR, to Butterfly Conservation Europe and the German Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, and so many others – the whole IPBES community joins you in celebrating Sepp’s life.