Let's Talk Conservation

Today’s episode I talk to Joe Olson who has an incredible brain child for an environmental initiative called the WorldPOP Festival. This festival is to get people around the world to commit to making changes - large and small - that'll have an impact on helping their own environments, leading to benefits globally.Use the links and tags below to find out more information:Facebook: WorldPOP FestivalInstagram: @worldpop.festival

In this episode I am talking to friends and colleagues of mine about the world of Environmental Consulting. It is an industry that offers a variety of opportunities - from terrestrial to marine, field work to legislations, even research. It can be seen as if those of us in the industry have ‘sold our souls’ to help development but that’s not the case. We are in this industry to help the environment alongside development. To make sure laws, regulations and legislations are followed. To advise ...

A very special episode for me this week as we go to Peru, travelling to the Manu Biosphere Reserve to talk to Quinn Meyer, founder of the CREES foundation. I volunteered with CREES way back in 2009, and it was a trip that changed my life and has left a lasting impression. Quinn is a social anthropologist with an entrepreneurial streak. After volunteering around the Manu Biosphere area he fell in love with and bought some land and the dream that CREES would become began. Opening officially in ...

This week we're back in the UK talking to countryside ranger and wildlife presenter, Ajay Tegala. Ajay has a degree in Environmental Conservation and nine years’ experience working in nature conservation. He was a ranger on Britain’s first coastal reserve, Blakeney Point for many years and currently works at Wicken Fen, Britain’s oldest and very first nature reserve (1899); alongside 100 Konik ponies and 50 Highland cattle! Growing up in East Anglia, Ajay became interested in wetland birds. T...

I am very happy to introduce Daniel Ward this week, a fellow Bangor Alum and friend. We discuss different approaches to conservation - what works, what isn’t and what direction could we go in. Change maker, big picture thinker and solution finder Dan is a forward thinking ecologist based in the UK. Dan has worked for the last decade across on the ground action, landscape scale projects and government policy and now works as a micro Think and Do Tank to drive the thinking and conversation arou...

Going halfway around the work this week to the beautiful Seychelles archipelago talking to Dr Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles. Nirmal is a well-known figure in the Seychelles conservation scene. A biology heavy upbringing in the Seychelles and education have earned him having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Seychelles biodiversity. He was formerly the Assistant Director of Fisheries Research, the Director of the Seychelles Conservation and National Parks service as well as the...

This week I am joined by my friend Dr Hernani Oliveira to talk about bats! Hernani is a tropical conservation ecologist with fieldwork experience across different environments, including: the savannahs and rainforests of Brazil, the dry and rainforests of Costa Rica, the lowland and pre-montane forests of Cameroon, and the limestone forests of Rota Island. During his expeditions, Hernani worked with a range of techniques (DNA barcoding, mist nets, radio telemetry, and camera recording systems...

Join me this week in sunny Australia where I talk to Dr Andy Lewis, CEO and founder of the Coral Sea Foundation. Andy has a PhD in coral reef ecology from James Cook University and, along with his extensive experience in small ship adventure cruising, he has become one of the most skilled and widely traveled ecotourism professionals in the Indo-Pacific region. He managed the ecotourism activities aboard the luxury vessel True North for over a decade, exploring a wide variety of tropical locat...

This week we head to California and meet Kimberly Ray, Founder and CEO of Marine Conservation Network (MCN)! An original water baby from Florida, Kimberly was always in the water and became fascinated with the ocean and the mysteries of what waited below the surface. This love eventually led to a serious interest in scuba diving, getting a degree in Marine Biology, and working hands on with marine life. at the aquarium in Santa Barbara. Kimberly became known as the Shark Lady because of her r...

What a guest to open with! The remarkable Cristina Zenato; ocean and cave diving guru; shark whisper; speaker, writer and conservationist. Cristina is known for her special relationship with her local sharks and her passion for promoting the protection of all sharks in the world. Her current projects include shark photogrammetry and identification of sharks’ mating and birth areas; creating interactive and 3D cave maps, and using photography and videography of these uncharted areas in the Bah...