A global audit of biodiversity monitoring

I am currently heavily involved in exploring a range of ways of integrating conservation science and policy especially through the development of evidence-based conservation. I have written The Conservation Handbook and From Individual Behaviour to Population Biology and have edited Managing Habitats for Conservation, Ecological Census Techniques, Behaviour and Conservation, Conservation Science and Action and Bird Ecology and Conservation: a Handbook of Techniques and most recently Transforming Conservation: a practical guide to evidence and decision making.

Read an interview with Bill published in ‘This Cambridge Life’ by the University of Cambridge.

Paul joined the staff of BirdLife International in August 2016 after 20 years with the RSPB (Principal Conservation Scientist, International Research Team), where he worked largely on international issues. His research interests include the effectiveness of international conservation agreements and site protection networks, the use of remote sensing in conservation, the conservation ecology of critically endangered species and the impacts of land use change on birds. In his new role at BirdLife, he works on scientific elements of the IBA and KBA initiatives with a particular focus on developing appropriate monitoring protocols.

I am the Head of the Science Programme at UNEP-WCMC and a Professor at the Center for Marcoecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen. I oversee the scientific work with the centre and how it relates to policy processes.

I have a track record of influencing conservation policy in sub-Saharan Africa and am a well-respected advisor to several developing country governments in East Africa. I have a long standing interest in the biogeography and conservation of African biodiversity. This has broadened in recent years to issues of the effectiveness and equity of protected areas and other conservation interventions, with regard to biological and human outcomes. I have also managed various forms of conservation projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe over the past 25 years, which I continue to do.

Research interests include biodiversity monitoring and indicators, citizen science, climatic change impacts, conservation priorities, measuring natural capital and ecosystem services, alien invasive species, and the impacts of predation and wildlife diseases. I have a particular interest in bird survey design, monitoring and indicators, and in ecological research and biodiversity conservation more broadly. Promoting informed and evidence-based environmental decision making in a range of academic, policy and political arenas: bridging the gap between conservation science and policy making. I have a passionate and lifelong interest in the nature and environment, focusing on bird conservation being a knowledgeable birder with experience around the world.
 
I am Head of Species Monitoring & Research at the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, (profile page) and hold an Honorary Professorship at the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/departments/gee/research-centres/centre-for-biodiversity-and-environment-research/people).

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, and also affiliated to the Conservation Science Group at the Department of Zoology as an academic visitor. I am interested in the effective use of scientific information for biodiversity conservation. My current research is focused in particular on the following three aspects of information use: (i) identifying gaps in biodiversity information and their drivers, (ii) overcoming information gaps with modelling approaches, and (iii) bridging the research-implementation gap.

I am a Research Associate based in the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London (ZSL). My interests lie in tackling the complexities of measuring biodiversity change and communicating that in a straightforward way to the public and for policy. For the past 10 years I have primarily been working in partnership with WWF on the development and implementation of the Living Planet Index, a global biodiversity indicator (www.livingplanetindex.org). In that time I have contributed to the biennial Living Planet Report, a publication with a global reach reporting on the state of the natural world, and provided indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity through the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership.

I am a Senior Advisor, Monitoring in the IUCN Science & Knowledge Unit in Gland, Switzerland, and chair of the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group (www.speciesmonitoring.org). I work with conservation and science teams across IUCN and with its partners and members to improve the availability of biodiversity data for conservation decision-making. By building tools and capacity for data collection and use I am working to improve the monitoring of conservation projects and of threatened species, protected areas, KBAs and other sites of conservation importance.

After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of London and studying tenrecs in Madagascar for my PhD (University of Aberdeen), I worked for Scottish Natural Heritage in the Cairngorms, WWF in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, and Conservation International in Côte d’Ivoire. I moved on to establish and manage elephant, great ape, rhino and bushmeat programmes for WWF’s Africa & Madagascar Programme. Between 2007 and 2016 I was WWF International’s Director of Conservation Strategy & Performance where I drove results-based management across the network.

I am also a Senior Research Fellow in the Ecosystem Management Group at ETH Zürich and a member of the IUCN SSC Afrotheria Specialist Group and the Great Ape Section of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group.

I am a project assistant at BirdLife International on the CCI global audit of biodiversity monitoring project, aiming to research monitoring schemes to compile a publicly available database and to analyse gaps in biodiversity monitoring.

My interest lies in bridging conservation science with management and policy to assist in building capacity and implementing evidence-based actions, and to help ensure a flow of information between stakeholders at various levels for more effective conservation.

I studied the roosting and spatial ecology of UK bats for my MSc and my PhD research at the University of Exeter and investigated the migratory connectivity of the highly politicised Ortolan Bunting at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, for my postdoctoral research.