He serves as the director of the Regional Landscape Kempen and Maasland vzw (RLKM), chairman of the Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL), and a former president of the EUROPARC Federation, the largest network for nature in Europe. He is a full member of the European chapter of the Club of Rome and the Rewilding Europe Circle.

In 2008, Ignace Schops was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, commonly referred to as the Green Nobel Prize. Since 2008, he has been recognized as an ASHOKA fellow, a world-leading social entrepreneur. Due to his contributions in the fields of biodiversity and social entrepreneurship, he received an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University in 2011. In 2013, he became a member of Al Gore's Climate Leadership Corps, and later that year, he was appointed a "Commander in the Belgian Crown Order" by King Filip of Belgium. In 2017, Charlie Magazine selected him as one of the top 25 most influential Belgians globally, and in 2019, his organization RLKM received the "Golden Honorary Prize" from the Flemish Parliament for its outstanding long-term contributions to nature and the environment. In 2021, Ignace was awarded the Etion Leadership Award.

Ignace Schops and his team developed the (Re)connection Model, which connects society with natural heritage and is being implemented in various countries. He is a co-founder and vice-chairman of the Klimaatzaak /Affaire Climat and the author of the successful 2023 book ‘Saved by the Tree Frog, a Bright Future for People and Nature’.