Allan Savory

Allan Savory is a man with a mission—to save humanity by saving our habitat. He is a maverick in multiple realms and has some astonishing stories to tell. Starting in the 1950s he was both praised and condemned for his work as a wildlife biologist in a wild and remote corner of Africa, as a soldier who trained trackers in a civil war he later sought to end as a member of Parliament, and as an ecologist for proposing that livestock would be critical to regenerating lost habitat. His work on the latter led to the development of a new framework for management that can be used to regenerate humanity’s life-supporting environment and the communities, economies and cities dependent on it.

He is the author of several influential books, including Holistic Management: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment, Holistic Management Handbook, and The Grazing Revolution: A Radical Plan to Save the Earth. His memoir, UNSAVORY: African Stories of Wildlife, War, and the Birth of Holistic Management, chronicles the pivotal early years of discovery, controversy, and eventual impact that shaped his life’s work.

Savory’s work has been honored with the Buckminister Fuller Challenge award for its “significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems” and Australia’s Banksia International Award for “the person doing the most for the environment on a global scale.” His 2013 TED talk, “How to Green the World’s Deserts,” has been viewed over nine million times and continues to spark conversation and debate around the future of our planet.