Current Board Profiles

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I started my life as a conservation biologist after my travels through Africa and India in the late 1980’s. Prior to this I worked in a variety of jobs, from bartending to auditing. It was from my experience in Africa that I really knew I wanted to do something with wildlife. I went back to England and worked at Regent’s Park Zoo as a carnivore keeper before returning to NZ. Having shocked many people with my new direction and focus in life and I started my undergraduate degree at Massey University, where I obtained my BSc. (Hons. 1). I then went to obtain my PhD from the University of Canterbury researching the impact of ferrets in New Zealand – thus, my career as an invasive species biologist started. I moved to the University of the South Pacific, in Suva Fiji to teach Conservation Biology and Terrestrial Ecology (something that was quite rare in this island nation). My primary research work was on the problems created by mongoose, rats and cane toads in Fiji. I also worked on crested iguanas.  

Tired of working in a university environment where I all I felt I did was talk about conservation, I decided to toss this all aside to work for the Department of Conservation in New Zealand as a Programme Manager which is “almost” on the coal-face of conservation. I now manage 4 staff who work on kiwi, kokako, kukupa, NZ dotterel, Galaxiid, short-tailed, bats, marine mammals, threatened plants, and kauri trees. I also have 4 staff that control introduced possums, rats, goats, pigs and weeds.

Jean-Yves Meyer
Member-at-Large
French Polynesian Gvt, French Polynesia

During my "early years" as an ecologist (PhD, Université de Montpellier 1994, Post-Doc, University of Hawaii 1997, scientific director of the Conservatoire Botanique de Mascarin, La Réunion Island 2001), I fighted against invasive alien plants using manual, chemical or biological control methods, conducted multi-disciplinary field expeditions to assess the terrestrial biodiversity in the numerous islands of French Polynesia, reaching by boat the most remote and uninhabited islands or by helicopter the highest mountain summits, sometimes discovering plant and animal species new for science, and with the ultimate goal of identifying the natural areas of high conservation values. A research scientist at the Government of French Polynesia for the last 10 years, I'm nowadays more involved into the coordination of initiatives on species and ecosystem conservation, and biological invasions management programs in French Polynesia, conducted in collaboration with local, French and foreign (mainly from Europe, US, NZ, Australia, Japan) researchers and natural resource managers. I'm engaged in local capacity building by training students (undergraduates to PhD candidates) and school teachers, lobbying for the creation of new protected areas with NGOs and nature protection groups, governmental agencies, and politicians, and sharing my experience and knowledge with my collegues in the Pacific region (through consultancies e.g. in the Cook Is., Hawaii, Easter Island, New Caledonia, Wallis et Futuna) and other tropical islands worldwide (Mascarenes, Caribbean Is.). A member of IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group and the IUCN French Committee, a research associate in botany at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (Hawaii), and a guest lecturer for the Université de Polynésie française and the UC Berkeley Gump South Pacific research station on Moorea, I define myself as an "island conservation biologist" whose main goal is to maintain biological diversity of small islands -respecting cultural diversity and traditional knowledge- in a rapidly changing world.

Personal website: www.jymeyer.over-blog.com

I have always been interested in how human behaviour and actions have disrupted the natural linkages between ecosystems. My research, therefore, seeks to identify the implications of anthropogenic disturbance to natural systems and to find management solutions to restore or preserve ecosystem functions, processes and services.

After completing a bachelors degree in biology at Harvard University, I worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon teaching rural farmers how to build fishponds and develop sustainable agriculture. It was there in the dense jungles of Gabon that I really start to wonder about the downstream consequences of all of the sediment that washed away after the farmers cleared their plantations. My PhD research through the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Queensland focused on linkages between land use and downstream impacts to water quality and nearshore coral reefs in Australia, topics which I continued to develop as a postdoctoral fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

With the WCS-Fiji team, my work focuses on assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas to increase the abundance and size of food fish of importance to local communities. In addition, I try to integrate connectivity science into development of a national system of protected areas for Fiji to preserve ecosystem services, livelihoods and human health. I am an active member of the Fiji National Protected Area Committee, Integrated Coastal Management Committee and Environmental Law Association.