David Western

Global Partner: Kenya

… is chairman of the African Conservation Centre. A Kenya citizen, he was raised and educated in Tanzania, obtained a B.Sc. (Hons.) from Leicester University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi. He began research into the savannas at Amboseli in 1967, looking at the interactions of humans and wildlife aimed at developing conservation policies applicable at an ecosystem scale. His work in Amboseli has continued unbroken since then, serving as a barometer of changes in the savannas and a tested of new conservation solutions. He has a particular interest in pastoralism and community participation in conservation. Western has been active in many areas of conservation, including field research, community-based conservation, international programs, ecotourism, conservation planning, directing government and non-government agencies, training, creation of conservation institutions and public education. He directed Wildlife Conservation Society programs in East Africa for many years. He established the Wildlife Planning Unit in Kenya in 1978, was the chairman of the African Elephant and Rhino Specialist Group in the 1980s, was founding president of The International Ecotourism Society, chairman of the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, director of Wildlife Conservation Society (International), director of Kenya Wildlife Service and founder of the African Conservation Centre in Nairobi. He is an adjunct professor in Biology at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Minnesota. Western’s publications include Conservation for the Twenty-first Century (OUP, 1989), Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community-based Conservation (Island Press, 1994) and In the Dust of Kilimanjaro (Shearwater, 1997).