New President, Dr Denis Saunders, takes up post at WWF-Australia
06 Dec 2006
Dr Denis Saunders AM, a respected authority on nature conservation and biological diversity, is now President of WWF-Australia. Denis will lead Australia's largest independent conservation organisation with 100 staff and over 85,000 supporters.
Dr Saunders has worked in nature conservation for close to 40 years. He is a former Chief Research Scientist with the Australian Commonwealth and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and is currently a Member of the Australian Heritage Commission.
With a strong commitment to communicating landscape ecology and conservation to all members of the community, Dr Saunders has received awards for contributions to conservation biology and for landscape ecology. He was awarded the International Society for Conservation Biology's 1998 Individual in Government award and a joint International Association for Landscape Ecology's 1999 Distinguished Scholarship Award.
Dr Saunders has been a member of WWF-Australia's Scientific Advisory Committee since 1990. During this time he provided valuable input on the conservation and management of remnant native vegetation and associated fauna.
"I've spent close to four decades working on the conservation of Australia's birds and cataloguing their decline. I'm delighted to be appointed the President of WWF-Australia to help reverse the decline of all our remarkable species and landscapes," Saunders said upon taking up his post. "WWF is well placed to take up this urgent conservation challenge because of its wonderful record of working with individuals, communities, governments and business to protect our flora and fauna.
Dr Denis Saunders will succeed Robert Purves, who has been WWF-Australia's President for the past 7 years. During this time Robert has seen the organisation grow from just 12 staff to 100 staff working on issues as diverse as illegal fishing in Antarctic waters to advocating Indigenous Protected Areas in the Northern Territory. Robert remains committed to WWF and has become a board member of WWF International.
Find out more
Angela Heck, Communications Manager - Partnerships, WWF-Australia
Phone: 02 8202 1268
Mobile: 0421 053 023
Email: aheck@wwf.org.au
