Mike Appleton

M. Sc. Protected Landscape Management, University of Greenwich, UK,B Sc. Ecology, University of East Anglia, UK

Mike focuses on applied, area-based conservation, building on scientific findings to achieve conservation results on the ground. This includes helping governments identify and establish protected areas, creating legal frameworks and systems of governance, developing management strategies and plans, and building the capacity of staff and organisations to meet the complex challenge of being guardians of the world’s growing protected area network. Mike has worked in more than 40 countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. His approach is based on a strong belief in participation, working with local partners to build custom-made solutions that meet local conservation needs, contexts and cultures. Mike is author of a widely-used IUCN guide to competences for protected area staff and serves as vice chair for capacity development in the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas. A nature lover from an early age, Mike started his conservation career as manager of an award-winning project for conservation on private land in his native UK. This was followed by six years developing and delivering vocational conservation training in collaboration with the University of East Anglia. After joining Fauna and Flora International he worked as a protected area management specialist, project manager and South East Asia Program Director, living in Jordan, the Philippines and Cambodia. Prior to joining GWC in 2017, he spent 10 years working as an independent protected area specialist in more than 40 countries.