Andrej Sovinc is a civil engineer/hydrologist, who started his career with projects on ecological restoration of water courses and wetlands His post graduate studies focused on protection of natural heritage, while his Ph.D. studies focused on geography and systems of protected areas. He served as the european coordinator for the Action Plan for Protected Areas for IUCN. Currently, he is the European vice-chair of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. For the last 14 years he has been the head of the Secovlje Salina Nature Park. In addition, he is an ornithologist and has written several books and articles on birds and conservation.