International conservation activities of this kind take place at multilateral and particularly at bilateral level, and within the setting established by agreements and programmes. Depending upon the issue at hand, many states and orgnaizations may be involved. International agreements can be grouped into global international agreements that are open in principle to all states, and regional international agreements with a specific geographic scope (such as Europe).
 International agreements and programmes

International governmental and non-governmental organizations play an important role in international conservation. The Federal Republic of Germany is a member of the key international organizations and bodies of relevance to nature conservation, such as UNEP, UNESCO and IUCN. Not only the federal government is active in the international conservation arena. The individual Länder of Germany and a broad array of associations and other organizations also cooperate with partners worldwide to jointly solve conservation problems.

BfN contributes to numerous projects worldwide. This collaboration takes place within the context of international agreements and programmes, in connection with bilateral and multilateral projects, and together with diverse international organizations.