Elizabeth Bennett
Vice President, Species Conservation
Elizabeth Bennett is Vice President, Species Conservation, at WCS. Raised in the UK, Elizabeth went to Nottingham University to read zoology, and then to Cambridge University for her PhD on the ecology of primates in Peninsular Malaysia.
She then moved to Sarawak, Malaysia in 1984, and lived and worked there for the next 18 years. Her first role there was working jointly for WCS and WWF Malaysia, to conduct the first-ever detailed study of the ecology and conservation needs of the proboscis monkey. She subsequently conducted many projects for WCS and the Sarawak Government, culminating in her leading a team, with WCS and Sarawak Government staff, to write a comprehensive wildlife policy for the State, and subsequently to head a unit within the Government to oversee its implementation. A core part of the policy and its implementation comprised ways to control unsustainable hunting and wildlife trade.
More recently, Elizabeth has worked to direct wildlife trade initiatives for WCS field staff globally as Director of the Hunting and Wildlife Trade Program. Her work included developing and implementing a policy on bushmeat trade in Central Africa, and working on a strategic plan to address wildlife trade in China. She provided technical support to WCS field staff working on hunting and wildlife trade issues in 65 projects and 29 countries worldwide.
She has more than 120 scientific and popular publications, including co-editing a book which is a comprehensive review of the issue of hunting in tropical forests, and the World Bank policy paper on the same topic. Her services to conservation have been recognized by her being awarded the “Golden Ark” award by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1994, the “Pegawai Bintang Sarawak” (PBS) by the Sarawak State Government in 2003, “Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” (MBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, Leila Hadley Luce Award for Courage by Wings WorldQuest in 2006, and D.Sc. (honoris causa) by Nottingham University, UK in 2008.
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