Hello Everyone,
I am very excited about joining this wide-ranging and practical network. I have been working in the conservation field since 1996 in a range of roles including grant fundraising, grant management, network co-ordination and communications. In 2001 I got an MSc from the Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology, with fieldwork and thesis on the Mallorcan midwife toad. However, much of my work has involved projects and campaigns relating to elephants and great apes, in both Africa and Asia.
I love the ecology side of conservation and I am fascinated by rewilding, but I am also passionate about community and indigenous rights and finding ways that they can be more deeply embedded in conservation approaches. (I am currently involved in a project looking at this from a donor perspective, so if any grant-makers out there want to know more, please drop me a line.) Having spent much of my career working in offices in the UK to support small organisations in the field overseas, I have immense respect for people who do this work and I am always happy when I can help out.
I am currently working for a travel consultancy called ANOMINDIAL, based in Brighton, UK, that advises the industry on issues of animal welfare, biodiversity protection and Nature Positive Tourism. I manage our Animal Protection Network … I’ll post more about that soon. I am also a freelance writer, working on anything from blogs to reports to science articles. I am really looking forward to finding opportunities to collaborate, share perspectives and support the conservation community through this inspiring platform.
All the best,
David
I have been working in the conservation sector since the mid-1990s, largely based in the UK and working for international NGOs. I began as a grant fundraiser and moved into programme management, including working with a range of partnerships/coalitions. I am also a technical writer and I have worked on various projects from high-level reports to blogs. I have an MSc from the Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology at the University of Kent (UK). I currently work for ANIMONDIAL - a travel consultancy advising on Nature Positive tourism and other aspects of animal and nature protection in the travel industry; I manage our Animal Protection Network of on-the-ground conservation projects.
