Conservation Leadership: A Practical Guide

This book is an important guide for individuals seeking to develop and grow their leadership skills in the wildlife conservation sector, across varied disciplines such as environmental management, conservation biology, and ecotourism.

Conservation Leadership addresses what leadership is, why it is important, and how to be an effective leader. It identifies the common pitfalls or mistakes in a leader’s thinking or behaviour, and the unexpected consequences or responses which can arise, and then explores more helpful alternative approaches to leadership. The book is divided into three parts:

• Part I: Leadership principles
• Part II: Four areas of profound theory: knowledge, psychology, systems, and variation
• Part III: Skills and competencies for conservation leaders

It focuses on contextual and organisational challenges in conservation, including limited resources, remote locations, fragile species of concern, politics, community conflict, crime, and commercial pressures. The scope is global, using diverse examples such as sea turtle head-starting in South Asia, reforestation in North Africa, bird conservation in North America, human–wildlife interactions in the Himalayas, and post-colonial issues in the Caribbean. Case studies illustrate key learning points from small local teams through to global transnational initiatives. Exercises in each chapter enable the exploration of less-familiar topics, including interpersonal skills, goal setting and performance measurement, plus a unique research-derived conservation leadership self-assessment tool.

This book is an essential reading resource for professionals and senior leaders in the wildlife management and conservation sector, as well as students on biodiversity conservation, wildlife conservation, and environmental management courses.

Simon Black is an Organisational Psychologist and Conservation Biologist who has trained hundreds of professionals worldwide and devised the innovative postgraduate course 'Leadership Skills for Conservation Professionals' at the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent, UK. He is a trustee of Wildwood, the leading UK conservation and rewilding charity, has published over 50 international journal articles, and is co-author of Species Conservation: Lessons From Islands (2018).