Ian Drysdale | Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative

The Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative encourages dialogue and collaboration to strengthen efforts to protect the Mesoamerican Reef. Ian Drysdale is the Honduras Coordinator of the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, responsible for data collection and training, as well as partner relations, media and outreach efforts in Honduras. In this interview, Ian talks about

Continue Reading

Blue Ventures | Community-based Conservation

It all started with octopuses… In southern Madagascar, the community of Vezo became concerned that their fisheries were in decline. Blue Ventures, an award-winning marine conservation organisation stepped in and supported temporary closures of fishing zones, as a result, octopus landings increased dramatically, and local incomes grew. News soon spread and Blue Ventures introduced the Locally

Continue Reading

Frances Humber | Blue Ventures

After working over 12 years for Blue Ventures, an NGO that focuses on rebuilding tropical fisheries with coastal communities, Frances Humber has dedicated her entire professional career to non-profit and social enterprises and has a wealth of experience in marine conservation. I was fortunate enough to speak with Fran about how she developed from a

Continue Reading

Conversation sparks conservation: an interview with Blue Ventures’ Chief Executive, Alasdair Harris

It is no coincidence that conservation and conversation are anagrams. In our age of insta-information and digital decisions, it’s easy to mistake boardrooms and computer screens for the birthplaces of conservation projects. But spend 30 minutes speaking with Dr Alasdair Harris, Chief Executive of multi-award winning NGO Blue Ventures, and he’ll quickly remind you that

Continue Reading

What’s your Global Vision?

When was the last time something turned your world view upside-down? Maybe it happened during a meal with a homestay family or while talking to a stranger amidst luggage and chickens on a packed local bus. Maybe it happened in the middle of a moving documentary, when you glimpsed an animal in its last remaining

Continue Reading

Landing your dream job: A success story from The Nature Conservancy’s Eddie Game

An introduction to conservation Eddie Game was working for Australia’s fisheries department in the sub-Antarctic when he realized that he wanted to become a conservation scientist. Unlike many others who are drawn to the field after having experienced some form of environmental destruction, he was drawn to conservation after observing the success of protected areas.

Continue Reading

From Rainforests to Reefs: the Australian-based Conservation Master’s

  With arid lands, rainforests and the Great Barrier Reef within roughly 1000 kilometres, plus a worldwide reputation for cutting-edge research in environment and ecology, the University of Queensland is an exciting place to train future conservationists. In 2013, the Australian university launched a one-year Master of Conservation Biology and an 18-month Master of Conservation

Continue Reading

Putting communities at the heart of conservation

With responsibility for conservation programmes and partnerships in Madagascar, Mozambique, the Comoros, Belize and Timor-Leste, Frances Humber, Conservation Programmes Manager, Blue Ventures is the London-based ‘fixer’ who makes sure that projects are on track, looking after the critical behind-the-scenes work of providing technical support to staff in the field and managing relationships with funders. Having completed

Continue Reading

A wild career in Texas with Matt Wagner

Conservation Careers Blogger Naïma Montacer speaks with Matt Wagner, Deputy Director of the Wildlife Division at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, about his fascinating career… I sat in a small room overlooking the coast of Texas, listening to Matt Wagner speak about what’s new in wildlife conservation around the state. I was intrigued by Wagner’s enthusiasm, not

Continue Reading