The Biodiversity MAG is a quarterly free online magazine. It is the media platform of the International Conservation & Biodiversity Team (ICBT), a non-profit and non-governemental organisation officially founded in october 2022. You can register your Expert or simple membership here.
Biodiversity MAG is edited by Laurent Dingli, Paris, France. ISSN — 2967-0411.
The International Conservation Biodiversity Team aims to facilitate contacts between the various stakeholders in the preservation of biodiversity at the international level and to promote both scientific knowledge and field action in favour of this preservation to the public by organising events and by distributing a magazine, Biodiversity MAG.
The organisation is concerned with all issues relating to nature conservation, with particular emphasis on the protection of biotopes, the inclusion of local communities, the mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts, human-animal interconnection, respect for human rights and animal welfare.
The spirit that drives our approach is based on the notion of linkage: first of all, the link that connects different human groups, whatever their ethnic, national, philosophical or religious origins, to appreciate our mutual interdependence, as we seek change in harmony with nature.
Secondly, the link between humans, the other species that make up our planet’s biodiversity and the spaces we must learn to share. Any approach that privileges humans to the detriment of other species and their natural environment seems doomed to failure, as does any undertaking to conserve, preserve and rehabilitate species and their biotopes that does not include humans in the long term. In other words, we believe that human rights, those of animals and of the environment in which they live, must not be considered separately. Our vision is therefore not anthropocentric, but it does recognize that humans have an important role to play in this balance, particularly at the local and indigenous levels.
We also want to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between field conservation and more academic approaches, one never excluding the other, insuring that we are strongly inclusive.
The second key idea is that of social equity. In a world where inequalities are glaring, particularly as rich countries have yet to live up to the promises they have made to help developing countries that are suffering the full force of climate disasters which they did little to cause, we favor and seek to promote social justice wherever possible.
The third key idea is the need for preservation of biodiversity and animal rights. All too often, conservation is still understood only in terms of numerical assessment and management of one or more species. We believe, on the contrary, that recognition of the right of all animals to live and thrive in a natural environment, free to grow and evolve without the direct input of mankind should be an essential element of this management.
Finally, we take a One Health perspective, believing that the health of all species with whom humanity shares this planet are unavoidably interlinked and thus inseparable as the recent outbreaks and pandemics have amply demonstrated.
Expert Members
Dr GLADYS KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA, Founder and CEO Conservation through Public-Health, Uganda.
In the legacy of the late Dian Fossey, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka has become one of the leading conservationists and scientists working to save the critically endangered mountain gorillas of East Africa. She is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a nonprofit organization that promotes conservation by improving the quality of life of people and wildlife to enable them to coexist in and around protected areas in Africa. Kalema-Zikusoka has received a number of honours, awards, and other public recognitions of her environmental and humanitarian work, in particular the Whitley Gold Award (2009), the EarthCare Award by the Sierra Club. In December 2021 she was proclaimed the United Nations Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation. She is on the leadership council of Women for the Environment in Africa. In November 2023, Kalema-Zikusoka was named to the BBC’s 100 Women list as one of the world’s inspiring and influential women.
Dr PURNIMA DEVI BARMAN, Biologist, Stork Conservationist, Guwahati, India.
Purnima Devi Barman attended Gauhati University in Assam, where she obtained her Masters in Zoology, with a specialization in Ecology and Wildlife Biology. In 2007 she started her PhD research, but she delayed finishing it until 2019 in order to focus on community conservation education in villages in rural Assam. Barman has worked as a Senior Wildlife Biologist in the Avifauna Research and Conservation Division at Aaranyak, a non-government organization for biodiversity conservation, where she coordinated Aaranyak’s greater adjutant stork conservation project. Barman is also a Director at WiNN (Women in Nature Network) India, and a Member of the IUCN Stork, Ibis and Spoon bill Specialist Group.
Barman has been honoured in particular with the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2022 Champions of the Earth award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category. Learn more on Dr Barman’s Biography.
DR DEBA KUMAR DUTTA, Conservation biologist,
Member IUCN/SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group
Dr. DEBA KUMAR DUTTA is a conservation biologist with an interest in Indian rhino conservation, landscape ecology, human-wildlife interactions, tiger recovery, habitat management, and community conservation and currently working as Landscape Coordinator of WWF-India (Manas Sub Landscape). He is the first Indian to have a Doctorate degree in the research of translocated rhinos’ behavior and habitat preferences (Gauhati University). His passion for the natural world and its inhabitants has led him to work in some of the most remote regions of the country. Besides several research papers and articles in reputed Indian and International Journals, he writes popular articles on conservation for Assamese media. He has been involved with various conservation projects viz,Indian Rhino Vision 2020, Conservation Acres for Tigers in Manas Landscape, Habitat management, Human and Wildlife conflict management, Transboundary conservation initiative between India and Bhutan, Behaviour studies of Indian rhinos and was also instrumental in establishing the rhino population in Manas National Park, the World Heritage Site. He is also an SSC/IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group Member (2017-2023) and IUCN/Asian Rhino Specialist Group Accredited Rhino Monitoring Instructor.
ANDY MERK & NANI FOUAD, President & Secretary General
Nature & Wildlife Association, Thailand
Andreas Merk, originally from Germany (Munich), came to Thailand, where he worked as an engineer. Passionate about wildlife photography and wildlife in general, his focus was on wild Asian elephants. After traveling all over Thailand to observe them, he began working with the manager of the Dong Yai Protected Area in Buriram Thailand, to create a safe zone for the elephants. It has since become a ”paradise for elephants” which has grown from about 30 individuals to over 200. In 2016, Andy founded the ONG Nature & Wildlife Foundation with Nani.
Nani Fouad, Secretary General of Nature & Wildlife Association (NWA). Lailani Fouad, originally from France (Paris). She was working in Paris as a nurse specialised in children and at the same time studying law at La Sorbonne University in Paris. After graduating with honours, Nani decided to leave Paris to immerse herself in the Thai jungle and meet wild Asian elephants. She went to the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, developed a passion for wildlife photography and spent a lot of time with wild elephants, day and night, for months on end, alone with them. One day, Nani met Andy, and both of them shared their passion for wildlife, especially wild elephants, Andy shared his knowledge with Nani and in 2016, they created Nature & Wildlife Foundation (NWA), the only French NGO specialised in HEC (Human Elephant Conflict) on the ground in Asia.
Neha Panchamiya is an animal rescue specialist and conservationist with over 15 years of experience in working with animals at grassroots level in Maharashtra. She is the Founder and President of RESQ Charitable Trust, Pune, whose rescue and rehabilitation work has provided direct aid to thousands of animals of over 200+ different species since 2007. Neha runs a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Pune which receives over 2000+ wild animals annually. Additionally, the organisation provides rehabilitation and medical aid to over 10,000 abandoned animals annually. She leads a team of 60+ full time team who dedicatedly works towards the organisation’s vision of conservation and coexistence between wildlife, communities and their animals through their response and prevention verticals. Neha’s work is focused on coexistence between animals and communities living in human-dominated landscapes, and her efforts are largely driven towards reducing negative interactions between communities and wildlife, developing animal emergency services, community education initiatives, building capacity to raise captive wildlife welfare standards and bridge gaps between public policy and its implementation in India.
Benson Kanyembo, Law Enforcement Advisor at Conservation South Luangwa (CSL) Zambia. Born in Kitwe, the son of a policeman, Benson grew up with an understanding of the importance of good law enforcement. He believes that a crime against nature is a crime against all of us. He has devoted over 20 years of his life to protecting Zambia’s wildlife for future generations, including his own four daughters.
In 1994, Benson started his career in wildlife enforcement as a scout for the North Luangwa Conservation Project (NLCP). In 1997, The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Services (DNPWS) took over the programme and he became one of their village scouts. In 2000, after the formation of Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) Benson became a community scout. At ZAWA, he rose to the rank of Senior Wildlife Police Officer and was in charge of the training of all scouts. He transferred to South Luangwa in 2008 under ZAWA.
In 2009, Benson joined CSL as Operations Manager, and during the restructuring in 2018 was promoted to Law Enforcement Advisor. He leads all CSL anti-poaching law enforcement and wildlife rescue operations in collaboration with DNPW. He has facilitated the growth and development of the anti-poaching unit from 30 to 92 scouts.
In 2019 Benson’s commitment to conservation in Africa was recognized on the global stage, when he was awarded the TUSK Wildlife Ranger Award in London by Tusk’s Royal Patron HRH the Duke of Cambridge.
In 2020 Benson was a winner in the Paradise International Foundation’s 2020 African Ranger Awards. Over 119 rangers representing 19 countries were nominated with 10 final winners.
In July 31st 2020 World Ranger Day, Benson was nominated for ‘Best Game Ranger’ and acknowledged as 1st runner up.
Dr Laurent Dingli, French writer, Historian, environmentalist and animal rights activist, chairs an NGO dedicated to the protection of the coastline and its biodiversity in Brittany for about 15 years. He founded The International Conservation & Biodiversity Team and the Biodiversity MAG in 2022. He’s also one of the International Advisors of the China Biodiversity Conservation & Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF). In the late 1990s, after the Kyoto summit, while watching a Japanesechannel NHK’s documentary mainly based on a Greenpeace footage, Laurent first became aware of the damage we were doing to our planet. A few years later, other awareness came progressively — the collapse of biodiversity and the immensity of the suffering we are inflicting on other species.This led him to a strong commitment in the associative field.
Linda Wong, graduated from Beijing University, member IUCN, Deputy Secretary General China Biodiversity Conservation & Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), Beijing, China, has a demonstrated history of working in the conservation an non-profit industry. Skilled in wildlife protection, biodiversity conservation, environmental laws and legislation, awareness promotion, environmental ethics, sustainability and fighting illegal wildlife trade. Also a member of the IUCN Education and Communication (CEC), Species Survival Commission (SSC), World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and Dark Skies Advisory Group (DSAG). Certified psychological consultant. China first NGO spokesperson.
Sonia Zapata is an international lawyer with an LL.M from the University of London. She is a human rights and environmental activist. She is the founder and Coordinator of Embajadores del Orinoco, an international network aiming at raising awareness about illegal mining in the Venezuelan Amazon region and building alliances internationally to articulate solutions in close cooperation with Venezuelan civil society. Sonia is also the Founder of The Norwegian Venezuelan Justice Alliance and the voice in Norway of the Venezuelan human rights organization Foro Penal.
Dr Marie-Bénédicte Desvallon, Lawyer at the Paris Bar, Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England & Wales, Paris, France. Founder of the law firm WAT & LAW in international business law in the natural resources, energy and environment sectors. President of the Association Avocats & Droits de l’animal, she is in charge of the Animal Law section of the Société de législation comparée (SLC), as well as of the Open Commission of the Paris Bar – Droit Animaux du Barreau de Paris. The SLC and the Open Commission organise training courses and conferences on the subject of animal protection in France and internationally. Marie-Bénédicte Desvallon received the LFDA law prize in 2020.
David B. Casselman, Lawyer, Founder Ecoflix, Founder Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary, Los Angeles, USA.
David was a trial lawyer in Los Angeles for 42 years, where he has long worked to save animals, including elephants on a pro bono basis. He and his team have spent over 10 years studying the problem, and trying to free Billy, the lone bull elephant in the Los Angeles Zoo. In 2001 he co-founded the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary and soon began a multi-decade partnership with Lek Chailert and her husband Darrick, working on many projects, including many animal rescues, with an emphasis upon saving elephants in Cambodia, Thailand, and recently, the rescue of Kaavan from the Pakistan Zoo. He is now in his own jungle sanctuary in Cambodia. He is also deeply involved in several projects, worldwide, to save a wide variety of animal species These projects are being developed and funded as part of his work as the Founder and CEO of the Ecoflix Foundation.
Steve Koyle, Founder CEO Elephant Care Unchained, has spent more than 35 years caring for animals. He has spent the last 21 years specializing in elephant care. Steve has become a globally recognized elephant care professional and very well respected for his knowledge of target training using positive reinforcement, designing facilities that support elephant health and specializing in proper elephant footcare. In July 2016, he established a nonprofit organization Elephant Care Unchained. Since then, Steve has helped 1+00’s of elephants in 6 countries, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. His passion and work ethic have driven him to form Elephant Care Unchained.
Steve’s original conception of Elephant Care Unchained was born in early 2013 when he made his first trip to India as a skilled volunteer helping an organization in northern India. It was there that he learned about the cruel treatment of elephants in their native countries. The brutality that elephants endure daily was something Steve felt compelled to address. It was after this eye-opening experience Steve decided to commit his life to improving elephants lives globally. He has now established ELEPHANT CARE UNCHAINED, a 501c3 organization dedicated to eliminating cruelty and improving elephant welfare in their native countries.
Dr Lynne Sneddon is an expert in aquatic animal biology and welfare and is based at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Lynne obtained a Bachelors with Honours in Marine Biology at the University of Liverpool and a Ph.D in animal behaviour, physiology and neurobiology at the University of Glasgow. After a postdoctoral position at the Roslin Institute where she characterised pain in fish for the first time, Lynne moved to the university of Liverpool where she continued work in aquatic animal welfare and how individual variation or personality affected the way in which animals respond to environmental change. In 2020, Lynne moved to Sweden where she teaches and conducts research on a variety of models including sea anemones, cuttlefish, crustaceans and fishes. She has held numerous external roles including research grant panels, sitting on Council of learned societies, editorial roles, member of expert working groups and uses her research to drive the agenda with regards aquatic animal welfare.
Pei Su is a Chinese sociologist, Founder and CEO of ACTAsia, an international NGO established in 2006. Since 1994, Pei has been dedicated to helping Asian cultures recognise that compassion towards humans and animals and respect for the environment, enriches lives and communities. She is a strong advocate of education and training as the main vehicle for long term sustainability, aiming to inspire people to understand and appreciate the world we share, and to take responsibility for the protection and preservation of its inhabitants and resources. With more than 30 years’ international experience in the field of human well-being, animal welfare, veterinary education and environmental science, Pei directs the organisation’s vision and mission through Caring for Life Education(CFL), an international award winning programme, with a holistic ‘One Health’approach to humanity. CFL promotes care and respect for humans, animals and the environment. Pei is an international lecturer and presenter at universities, forums and media events. She is recognized as an authority on issues relating to China, including political and social aspects, the exploitation of wildlife, and the implications for human and animal well-being through pandemics such as COVID-19. To date ACTAsia has received numerous
awards in China and other countries.
Franck Chantereau and his wife Roxane are founders of JACK Primate Sanctuary — ‘Jeunes animaux confisqués au Katanga’, a non-profit organization and a Congolese NGO engaged in the fight against the extinction of endangered species that Franck and Roxane started in 2006 with the first chimpanzee ever confiscated in Lubumbashi, the second largest city of the DRC. As soon as they arrived in 1994 they were horrified to see the tragic fate of baby chimpanzees who were taken from their families, offered for sale for little money in the street or even trafficked across the Zambian border. Since then, JACK has one main goal: to stop the illegal trade of endangered species in Lubumbashi and later elsewhere in the country. To do so, JACK has set itself several missions. First, enforce existing laws related to the protection of Congolese species, then to give refuge to these animals traumatized and confiscated by the Congolese authorities, then raise public awareness to the cause of endangered species, and finally, if possible, reintroduce individuals eligible for release into their natural habitats.
Dr Paul Yoxon, Head of Operations, International Otter Survival Fund, Broadford, Scotland, United Kingdom.
With his wife Grace, Paul founded the International Otter Survival Fund in 1993 and has worked on conservation projects in Tanzania, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico and Guyana.
IOSF’s aim is to protect and help the 13 species of otter worldwide through a combination of compassion and science. IOSF supports projects to protect otters, which will ensure that we have a healthy environment for all species, including our own.
The NGO works closely with other organisations to protect otters in the wild and in captivity. In particular, IOSF is concerned with the high level of wildlife crime involving otters and has held training workshops in Asia to enable local conservationists to combat this. It works closely with Asia for Animals, Foundation for International Aid to Animals, Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime UK and Scotland (PAW UK and PAWS) and Wildleaks.
Heidi Riddle, Vice-Chair, IUCN-SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group.
Heidi has over 40 years of experience working in wildlife care, management, science, and conservation. Heidi’s efforts have focused on elephant conservation projects throughout South and Southeast Asia across different levels of government, as well as with non-governmental partners. As Advisor and Coordinator to various wildlife conservation organizations, Heidi leverages her deep expertise in elephant care and management to develop long-term programs to enhance the capacity of local field staff to conduct direct wildlife conservation activities.
Heidi currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and is a member of the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG).
Danny Yawson, Senior Lab. Technician Department of Biological Science School of Sciences, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani-Ghana — Daniel is an early career ecologist with research interest in primate ecology, conservation ecology and tropical forest biodiversity. Daniel works as a senior lab technician at the Biology Department in University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Ghana. He also works as a research assistant at the Ecology Research Group under the Centre for Research in Applied Biology (UENR). His recent and ongoing research concerns non-human primate habitat quality assessment. He and his team are actively involved in assessing how the quality of primate habitat are affecting the ecological behavior of some specific monkeys in selected tropical forests in Ghana.
Dr Aadil Kazi is a Head of the Department of Wildlife Sciences at College of Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, India. He obtained bachelor to doctorate in Forestry and earned an Honours Certificate in Wildlife Management from Wildlife Institute of India, where he has been awarded Institute’s Gold medal for the Top Trainee and Institute’s Silver Medal for the Best All Round Wildlifer. He started his career as Conservation Officer with World Wildlife Fund and subsequently as an accomplished academician and a young researcher at the university, he has more than fourteen years of experience in training umpteen graduates in the fields of forestry and wildlife sciences. For his noteworthy contribution to forestry higher education, he has been conferred several accolades including the Best Teacher and Young Scientist Awards. His interest areas are human-wildlife coexistence, community forestry and sustainable ecotourism. In addition to his contributing papers and active participation in conferences, his recent book ‘Comprehensive Forestry’ is well received by young foresters. Dr Kazi is a member of various bodies working towards forest, wildlife and environment conservation, including IUCN CEC.
Pauline Verheij is an environmental lawyer with more than 20 years of experience tackling wildlife and forest crime in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Americas. Pauline has worked in various positions in the public and private sectors and civil society, including the Dutch police; Dutch public prosecutors’ office; TRAFFIC; IFAW; and the Wildlife Justice Commission, which she helped to set up. In 2012, Pauline started her own consultancy EcoJust to provide technical and legal assistance on wildlife and forest crime issues to NGOs and (inter-) governmental organisations. Pauline has conducted a wide variety of studies on topics ranging from jaguar and other wildlife trafficking in Bolivia and Suriname; forest crimes in Suriname and Guyana; ivory and rhino horn trafficking in Vietnam; Rosewood trafficking in Madagascar; criminal justice responses to forest crime in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea; and the interaction between wildlife crime and insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Pauline is a member of the Network of Experts of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication.
V. Victoria Shroff KC, Canada’s 1st animal law lawyer to be appointed with the prestigious designation of King’s Counsel (K.C.) and is credited as one of Canada’s first and longest serving animal law lawyers and is author of a new text book, Canadian Animal Law (Lexis-Nexis).
She has practiced animal law for over 20 years in downtown Vancouver at Shroff & Associates (Shroff Animal Law) and is referred to as a trailblazer in the field for her innovative practice dealing with both wild and companion animals. Shroff has represented animals at all levels of court. Born in Africa, not far from the Serengeti, Shroff has enjoyed a lifelong affinity with animals. She advocates for animals to be seen as part of the biosphere, respected as sentient beings and for access to justice for all species.
She teaches animal law at UBC’s Allard School of Law as an adjunct Professor, and at Capilano University where she is faculty. Shroff teaches ‘Paws of Empathy’, her animal law program for children which she teaches with dogs.
Shroff spearheaded Canada’s first and only pro-bono animal law clinic with the Law Students Legal Advice Program in Vancouver, is founding chair of the national Canadian Animal Law Study Group, liaises with various levels of government, and regularly helps marginalized individuals with their animal law cases. Widely respected for her pioneering work for animals, Shroff was voted to be a Top 25 Most Influential Lawyer in Canada, was a YWCA Women of Distinction finalist several times, has received recognition from the Canadian Bar Association, and was awarded a prestigious SEEDS award for her groundbreaking work in animal law. Shroff is appointed associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, UK and is a member of Global Animal Lawyers. Shroff is widely published, lectures globally and is frequently before the media about animal matters.
Dr. David Manoa is the Pride of Amboseli Programme Manager, a programme that promotes the coexistence of people and carnivores in Southern Kenya and Northern areas of Tanzania by reducing human-carnivore conflict. He has been managing the programme for the last 14 years, and have worked for Born Free Foundation the last for 21 years!
Born Free’s longest-running conservation programme, the Pride of Amboseli, has initiated the widespread implementation of predator-proof bomas (PPBs) since 2010. PPBs have proven to be a simple, low-cost, and highly effective method of reducing livestock depredation. Dr. David Manoa explains how reinforcing traditional bomas can help lions and people live together without conflict.
Manoa was recently awarded his PhD, with his thesis focusing on human-wildlife conflict – an extra feather on his cap to deal with conservation challenges!
Dr Pilar Alexander Blanco Márquez Veterinarian, Founder and President of Fundación Esfera, National Director of the Harpy Eagle Programme in Venezuela. He was born in Maracay, Aragua State, on 21 July 1969. In 2001, he obtained a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Central University of Venezuela. Between 2003 and 2004, he moved to Brazil to specialise in environmental sciences at the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, where he received an award for “best scientific work”.
In 2008, he studied a Master’s degree in Conservation Medicine at the Colegio de la Frontera del Sur in Mexico. In 2011, he received the “Dr. Rodill Tomas Calderon” award from the College of Veterinarians of Aragua State. Since 2013, he has served as President of the Fundación Esfera.
This Foundation, together with the Earthmatters organisation and the Dallas World Aquarium, has been running the Harpy Eagle Conservation Programme in Venezuela since 1998, of which he is currently the National Director.
Blanco has dedicated his life to the conservation of South American species, but it has been his work with the harpy eagle, which he financed from his own income as a veterinarian, that has received special interest and for which he was interviewed by the BBC in 2017, after winning the Whitley Nature Prize, also known as the “green Oscar”.
His tireless work with this species has ranged from observing and collecting data to raising awareness among local people to stop hunting them. His performance in this work has been so important that he has managed to replicate the project in Ecuador and Brazil, as well as advising countries such as Mexico, Panama, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela.
Denis Alexander Torres is a Venezuelan geographer with a special interest in biogeography, environmental conservation and culture. He defended his thesis at the Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Ambientales, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. He has written numerous scientific and informative reports and publications on environmental conservation and ecology. He’s a qualified member of several environmental organisations, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Mountain Forum, among others.
For three decades, he has been conducting research on the natural history of the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) in parallel with environmental education work to promote the conservation of this endangered species. He has also documented various aspects of the natural history of several species of mammals and birds of the Andean Cordillera and the Venezuelan plains.
Honorary Members
Dr. Jinfeng Zhou, Secretary-General of China Biodiversity & Green Developement Foundation (CBCGDF) is a member of IUCN’s World Commission on EnvironmentalLaw (WCEL), member of the Club of Rome, member in the Board of SUNx.
China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) is a leading nationwide non-profit public foundation and a social legal entity dedicated to biodiversity conservation and green development. It is an independent NGO on environment, biodiversity conservation, sustainability and CCAfa (“Community Conservation Area”). It is a member of IUCN and UN’s Global Compact, and an accredited observer of UN’s IPBES. It is also a member of Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN), a partner of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and an observer of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of UN’s FAO. It is an official data publisher of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). As the leader of environmental justice, CBCGDF has filed more than 50% of China’s environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) cases to date.
Philip Lymbery, Compassion in World Farming International.
Philip Lymbery is Global Chief Executive of the international farmed animal welfare environmental organisation, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). He is visiting Professor at the University of Winchester in the UK, President of the Brussels-based umbrella body of nearly 100 leading animal welfare societies in Europe, Eurogroup for Animals, and is a founding Board member of the World Federation for Animals (WFA), a global membership organisation to represent the animal protection movement at intergovernmental level.
Philip is also a Leadership Fellow of St George’s House, Windsor Castle and Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
He was appointed UN ambassadorial ‘Champion’ for the 2021 Food Systems Summit in New York and was appointed co-lead of the Summit’s Sustainable Livestock Solutions Cluster.
Philip is an animal advocate, naturalist, photographer, and author. He regularly writes and speaks internationally on animal ethics and the global effects of industrial agriculture (factory farming), including its impact on animal welfare, wildlife, soil and natural resources, biodiversity and climate change.
His most recent books include Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat (Bloomsbury, 2014), Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were (Bloomsbury, 2017), and Sixty Harvests Left: How to Reach a Nature-friendly Future (Bloomsbury, 2022).
Ian Redmond OBE is a tropical field biologist and conservationist, renowned for his work with great apes and elephants. For more than 45 years he has been associated with mountain gorillas, through research, filming, tourism, and conservation work. He served as Ambassador for the UN Year of the Gorilla in 2009 and for the UN Convention on Migratory Species from 2010 to 2024.
Following the killing by poachers of gorillas and elephants he knew personally, Ian became a conservationist working with organizations such as the Born Free Foundation, the Gorilla Organization, the Orangutan Foundation, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Thin Green Line, and others. To encourage such groups to work together, he established and chairs the Ape Alliance, and previously the African Ele-Fund and the UK Rhino Group.
He was Chief Consultant and Envoy for GRASP – the UNEP/UNESCO Great Apes Survival Partnership that he helped launch in 2001 – until 2012 and continues as an independent consultant on matters pertaining to apes, elephants, bushmeat, forests, climate and related issues. He helped create Virtual Ecotourism – an immersive, interactive conservation education tool which can be experienced at vEcoutourism.com and co-founded Rebalance Earth, initially to develop a system of payment for ecosystem services attributable to keystone species such as apes and elephants. He represents the Born Free Foundation in the Forest Stewardship Council and is now Head of Conservation for Ecoflix, the world’s first not-for-profit TV channel and streaming platform dedicated to animals and the planet Ecoflix.
Dr Patricia Wright, renown primatologist, anthropologist, Herrnstein Professor of Conservation Biology and Distinguished Service Professor at Stony Brook University, founder and executive director Centre ValBio.
Dr. Wright is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments and Centre ValBio. Dr. Wright earned a BA from Hood College in 1966 and a PhD in Anthropology from City University of New York in 1985. She has led over 60 field expeditions in Peru, Paraguay, Borneo, East Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Madagascar and has published five books and over 200 publications. Dr. Wright has supervised 34 doctoral students, earned three medals of honor from the Madagascar government, is a MacArthur Fellow (genius award), has been elected to the American Philosophical Society, is the first woman to win the Indianapolis Prize for Animal Conservation and is an elected member of AAAS.
Dr. Wright and her research team have come a long way since her discovery of the golden bamboo lemur. Over the past 20 years, as founder and international director of a state-of-the-art research station (CVB) overlooking the Madagascar rainforest, Dr. Wright has trained and guided both Malagasy and Stony Brook students, and collaborated with a myriad of tropical biologists. CVB researchers have published more than 900 papers and produced more than 55 doctoral dissertations. Dr. Wright’s efforts to integrate environmental conservation with the well-being of local populations has been crucial for both lemurs and the Malagasy people, and has set a world standard for conservation efforts.
Azzedine T. Downes. As President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2012 and since joining the organisation in 1997 as its Executive Vice President, Azzedine Downes has worked closely with experts and decision makers from around the world, leading a groundbreakink period leading a groundbreakink period of geographic expansion and strategic consolidation.
Influencing international policies to create positive change on the ground, Azzedine led the signing of a historic lease agreement with a Maasai community near Amboseli National Park in Kenya, securing 16,000 acres of habitat for elephants, while helping to establish a first-of-its-kind cooperative framework between IFAW and INTERPOL’s Environmenta Crime Program.
Before joining IFAW, Azzedine served as the Chief of Party for the US Agency for International Development in Jerusalem and Morocco and as the Acting Regional Director for the United States Peace Corps in Eurasia and in the Middle East. In 2015, Fast Company named him one of “The Most 100 Creative People in Business”, and he has been listed among The Nonprofit Time’s “Power and Influence Top 50.” Azzedine is a member off Jane Goodall’s Council of Hope, dedicated to spreading a message of optimism and action in the face of challenges facing our planet. A graduate of Providence College and Harvard University, Azzedine is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.
Ahmad Osman. — Director of Somali Wildlife.
Ahmad is a highly motivated, productive, monitoring fields in rural areas of wildlife focused, team player with strong communication, interpersonal, organizational, time management analytical and problem solved skills. Reliable and dedicated with the ability to grasp and apply new procedures of all wildlife system locally, regionally and globally quickly.
For almost 30 years, Ahmad has been an activist focused on wildlife animal, protected areas and rescue centres for Animal.
As Director of Somali Wildlife, he’s having in particular high extensive experience in the field of marine and terrestrial conservation and biodiversity over 13 years. He’s fully experienced for the Somali wildlife legislation act and all international regulations for wildlife, as well as for the rules and procedures of CMS & CITES Conventions. He participed in many international and national seminars, training, conferences and workshops, for instance IGAD governmental workshops for economy planning, environment and wildlife in Kampala Uganda (2010), IFAW workshop for combatting illegal wildlife Trade in Djibouti (2011), Workshop Raptors meeting in Abu Dubai, CMS meetings for Dugong in Manila Philippines, signed by Somalia membership, workshop for shark fish protection in Dubai (2012), Cites COP 17 Conference in South Africa, Johannesburg, CMS, conference 13 in Gandhi agar, India, African protected areas session in Kigali, Rwanda, and many others.
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