Ian Saunders serves as Vice President of the African Environmental Film Foundation. He is one of Africa’s most respected protected area managers, who combines over two decades of hands-on experience in anti-poaching, natural resource management, cross-cultural liaison and environmental education. He is currently Co-founder and Operations Director of Tsavo Conservation Group (TsavoCon). Working across UK, USA and Kenya, Ian fulfills an international leadership role for TsavoCon, developing TsavoCon’s global profile and leading the teams delivering its operational field projects. Ian’s clear strategic vision for transforming the practice of conservation has evolved into TsavoCon’s Stabilization through Conservation (StabilCon) approach, a low-intensity stabilization model, which seeks to integrate the needs of people with the needs of nature. Ian is an internationally recognized expert on wildlife security and is a strong advocate for increased international investment into conservation and wildlife security in Africa. A Co-founder of both Tsavo Trust and TsavoCon, Ian is a qualified pilot, sits on the Technical Advisory Board of the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, frequently briefs members of the US Congress on the global implications of wildlife crime, writes for The Cipher Brief, and has an Honors Degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management.
