Holding a Diploma in Geography (1981) Günter started his professional career in 1982 with the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, then joined the German Ministry for Environment, followed by a 7 year period as executive director of NABU (Birdlife Germany) and 15 years as nature conservation consultant. Since 2009 with WWF Germany, he is responsible for international biodiversity policy. He is the Focal Point of WWF Germany for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Focal Point for IPBES for WWF Network. In 2011, Günter was elected Regional Focal Point for Europe of the GEF NGO Network. From 2011-2012, he was a member of the CBD Expert Team to assess the financial needs on biodiversity for the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) period 2014-2018. In 2015, he was renominated as member of the CBD Expert Team to assess the financial needs on biodiversity for the GEF period 2018-2022.