Robert Marc Lehmann (born 7 February 1983 in Jena) is a German marine biologist, photographer and cameraman, environmentalist, YouTuber and author.
Lehmann graduated from high school in Jena and completed his civilian service on an oncological ward. He studied marine biology at the University of Kiel and went on expeditions at the same time. According to his own statements, he was already head of department at the Ozeaneum Stralsund during his studies. In this role, he said he travelled a lot ‘around the world’ to catch fish from the wild for the Ozeaneum and fill its aquariums. According to the Ozeaneum Stralsund, however, Lehmann was only team leader from 1 December 2008 to 30 November 2009. In addition, he only accompanied three trips to Norway. During this time, according to Lehmann himself, he had a change of heart with regard to animal husbandry and fell out with his superiors. Lehmann's employment contract was not renewed and he has since campaigned against the keeping of animals in aquariums and zoos.
He gives talks on environmental topics in schools and multivision presentations for adults and appears in the media as a contact person for various (marine) biological topics. Environmental protection organisations such as Greenpeace, WWF, Sharkproject, Stop Finning Deutschland e.V., Soko Tierschutz, Deutsches Tierschutzbüro, OceanCare, the Franz Weber Foundation and Earthrace Conservation work together with Lehmann. Through his support, he was able to help the #StopFinningEU initiative for the protection of sharks to succeed. After a video appeal to Youtubers and politicians, the initiative received more than half a million votes within a week and exceeded the quorum. He also supported the European citizens' initiative Fur Free Europe, which aims to ban fur farms in the EU, among other things, by calling for signatures. He also accompanied Aninova to a fur farm. The initiative reached the quorum of one million signatures. He travels for documentaries, research projects and photographic work, including as a cameraman for the television programme Terra X.
In 2019, he founded Mission Erde e.V. According to its own statements, the association aims to help realise Lehmann’s projects, preserve habitats and sensitise the population to the protection of wild animals and the responsible treatment of nature. Lehmann has worked with the association to recover ghost nets and prepare school presentations, while his book of the same name also supports the protection of the rainforest. Since autumn 2020, he has been active as a ‘nature ambassador’ for the television channel VOX. In May 2021, Lehmann launched the YouTube channel “Robert Marc Lehmann - Mission Earth”, where he publishes videos on the topic of environmental protection. In 2022, the channel reached 4th place for most subscriptions in Germany. In November 2022, during a livestream with a reaction to a “7 vs Wild” episode, a viewer called for donations. Within a very short time, over 100,000 euros were raised for Mission Earth.
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