Speakers

Frank is a conservation biologist and policy advisor with many years of experience working with governments, civil society and local communities in Africa and around the world.

Prior to joining IUCN, Frank was Senior Vice-President at Conservation International (CI). In addition to leading CI’s programme in Africa and Madagascar, he worked closely on green economy policy and land-use planning issues, emphasizing the value of nature as the basis for sustainable development, particularly in Liberia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and South Africa. He has collaborated with the US government and US-based institutions on a range of policy issues based on that field experience, including links between economic growth and natural resource use, mechanisms for promoting green investment, and multi-stakeholder engagement processes. He has organized events to highlight the potential for public-private partnerships to deliver nature-based development.

For 20 years until 2007, Frank worked primarily in Madagascar, with CI and other NGOs, where he conducted research on birds, lemurs and carnivores, and supported the government, local communities and local NGOs in implementing the National Environmental Action Plan. He has written or co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed papers and 10 books, the latest of which, the Birds of the Malagasy Region, will be published later this year.

Frank has joint UK and Canadian nationality, and is married with two teenage daughters. When not sampling the manifold delights of biodiversity around the world, he enjoys cycling, cheese and cinema, not necessarily in that order.