{"id":50720,"date":"2026-05-13T09:21:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/?p=50720"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:21:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T07:21:01","slug":"death-of-thymio-papayannis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/uncategorized\/death-of-thymio-papayannis\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of Thymio Papayannis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is with deep sadness that the Tour du Valat pays tribute to Thymio Papayannis, an honorary member of our Board of Directors, a leading figure in the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands, a visionary humanist and a tireless champion of dialogue between peoples, cultures and nature.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Trained as an architect and urban planner, Thymio Papayannis has dedicated his life to building bridges: between people and their environment, between memory and the future, and between nature and culture. Long before these approaches became central to environmental policy, he was already championing a deeply holistic vision of conservation, based on respect, cooperation and the living connections between landscapes and the communities that inhabit them.<\/p>\n

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Luc Hoffmann and Thymio Papayannis in the Prespa region in 2013 \u00a9 Jean Jalbert<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His history is closely intertwined with that of the Tour du Valat and its founder, Dr Luc Hoffmann, with whom he shared a deep friendship, a rare bond of trust and a shared conviction: nature cannot be protected without the men and women who are part of it.<\/p>\n

In 1990, alongside Luc Hoffmann, he co-founded the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP)<\/a>, a pioneering initiative for cross-border cooperation in the heart of the Balkans.<\/p>\n

A year later, he established and coordinated MedWet<\/a>, the Ramsar Convention\u2019s first regional initiative, which has become a model of collaboration between governments, scientists and civil society across the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

In 2003, he also founded the Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos<\/a>, continuing his tireless commitment to reconciling nature, culture and human communities. A deeply compassionate visionary, attentive to everyone and driven by a rare combination of kindness and intelligence, Thymio Papayannis has inspired generations of conservationists in Greece, the Mediterranean and far beyond.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands<\/a>) awarded him a prize in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the conservation and wise use of wetlands. Today, the Tour du Valat community has lost a dear friend, a loyal companion and a vital voice in rethinking our relationship with nature.<\/p>\n

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Jean Jalbert (Executive Director of the Tour du Valat) and Thymio Papayannis at the Tour du Valat\u2019s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2004 \u00a9 Herv\u00e9 H\u00f4te<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and loved ones, as well as to all the teams and organisations he helped (to) establish and develop.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is with deep sadness that the Tour du Valat pays tribute to Thymio Papayannis, an honorary member of our Board of Directors, a leading figure in the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands, a visionary humanist and a tireless champion of dialogue between peoples, cultures and nature. Trained as an architect and urban planner, Thymio Papayannis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1809,"featured_media":50712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evenements-en","category-uncategorized","country-mediterranean"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50723,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50720\/revisions\/50723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}