Paul Jepson

Paul Jepson is a conservation scientist, educator and practitioner. He is co-author of ‘Rewilding: the radical new science of ecological recovery’ and ‘Conservation: a beginner’s guide’. He has written more than 80 research papers and numerous popular articles on conservation policy and regularly contributes to TV documentaries and radio. As an academic he directed MSc programmes in Biodiversity, Conservation & Management and Nature, Society & Environmental Policy at the University of Oxford. Together with teaching, he conducted research on protected areas, wildlife trade and rewilding in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Europe and co-founded the field of conservation culturomics. As a conservationist, he started his career in local government working on urban countryside projects in Manchester and Shrewsbury. In 1991 he moved to Indonesia to found the BirdLife Indonesia programme which he headed until 1998. He came to specialise in the early phase of conservation area establishment: transitioning then from a proposal on a map to an institutional reality. His PhD drew on this experience and investigated the values, politics, science and organisational imperatives that constrain or enable conservation delivery. He went on to consult for various international organisations including the World Bank, FAO and WWF. In 2001 he conducted a major ‘audit’ of Asian elephant conservation. Paul returned to his practitioner roots in 2019 to take up the role of Nature Recovery Lead with Ecosulis Ltd. A passionate birder since boyhood, Paul backpacked around Asia’s top wildlife sites after University, co-founded the Oriental Bird Club and worked for a period leading bird tours in India and Nepal. He has a long term fascination with the different ways people engage with nature and how this effects well-being and nature conservation. He is happiest researching and writing about practices such as bird-keeping in Indonesia, bird hunting in the Mediteranian and the rise of bird-photography in the UK.