Jim Barborak

Senior Adviser Center for Protected Area Management, Colorado State University

About Jim Barborak

Jim Barborak is Senior Adviser of the Center for Protected Area Management at Colorado State University, an outreach arm of the Warner College of Natural Resources at CSU. His B.S. and M.S. in natural resources are from Ohio State University, and he took additional coursework mid-career at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His specialties include protected areas and corridor planning and management; wildlife management; conservation finance, policy and governance; capacity building; and ecotourism. He began his career working for county government in his native Ohio, and then joined the US Peace Corps as a Volunteer and was assigned to work with the Honduran Wildlife Department. That began an international career now spanning more than 40 years. He has worked for US, Costa Rican and Honduran government conservation agencies, as a consultant to several UN organizations including UNESCO, the UN Development Program and FAO, as a private consultant, and for universities. He has worked in nearly 30 countries, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, but also in Africa and Asia. He is an active member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and serves on several of its specialist groups, including those on Tourism, Conservation Finance, Capacity Building, and Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Equity. He is a native English speaker, fluent in Spanish, and speaks conversational Portuguese. Throughout his career, Jim has worked on efforts to plan and develop increased opportunities for public enjoyment of protected areas, through tourism, recreation, and environmental education programs. At the same time, he has been actively involved in efforts to increase the stream of benefits to local communities and indigenous populations living in and around protected areas, through their direct involvement in tourism and through other mechanisms to create employment and improve livelihoods in conservation units, the buffer zones that ring them, and the corridors that connect them.

Which category below best describes the type of organisation you currently work for/or run?

Academic or Research Institute

Areas of expertise

Education & training Funding Land/Water Management Legal & Policy Frameworks Livelihood, Economic & Moral Incentive Partnerships and collaboration development Species Management

Would you be willing to be approached and share your lessons learned in your area(s) of expertise with our community?

Yes

Influencer Of

Topics

Channels contributed to:

Capacity development Events & Network opportunities

Rooms participated in:

Training opportunities

Recent Discussions

Recent Comments

May 05, 2022

Dear Thirza:

It was great to be able to chat with Temi!  Regarding soft skills, they are not really "soft" and many employers actually think they are "harder" to master and just as or more important than traditional natural science or engineering skills!  This refers to things usually not learned in university but vital for professional success, such as negotiation skills; conflict management skills; fundraising and proposal writing ability; interpersonal oral and written communcation skills; mastery of social media and social marketing; ability to work on and lead teams; leadership;  and project management abilities.  Hiring managers and recruiters are usually keen on finding individuals with these skills, which are harder to outsource or automate as well.  Here is one good reference on the subject: https://virtualspeech.com/blog/importance-soft-skills#:~:text=Soft%20skills%20are%20personal%20attributes,and%20dependability%2C%20and%20lead%20teams

Regards,

Jim Barborak