James Mayers
Director, Natural Resources
James Mayers is an expert on sustainable forestry, rural livelihoods and the governance of natural resources. He is currently working on improving governance and justice in relation to forestry and natural resource use. He is on the steering committee of the Forests Dialogue, an international programme that aims to encourage collaborative action on high-priority issues facing the world's forests.
Sustainable forestry, rural livelihoods and governance of natural resources. Particular experience in Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, Cameroon, Brazil, Costa Rica, China, Pakistan, India and Papua New Guinea.
Research and policy influence for improved governance and justice in forestry and natural resource use. Co-Leader of The Forests Dialogue.
- Country officer, WWF International in Liberia and Tanzania
- MA Natural Sciences Cambridge, MA Development Studies East Anglia
English, Spanish and French
James Mayers's blog posts
Chinese investment and trade is having a huge impact on African forests. Our longread gives a full review of the issues, the project work to date and the way things are heading.
Increasingly recognised as the irreplaceable basis of our natural world, biodiversity is also fundamental to human wellbeing and sustainable development. James Mayers looks at why effective conservation action is inextricably linked with development and social justice.
Could innovative local organisations working with forests, together with the Paris climate agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and global financial crisis help deliver us into a post-capitalist era?
As the European Union reviews its policy to import only legal tropical timber, a new report finds that incentives to harvest timber legally and sustainably from Ghana, one of Europe's key sources, are failing to deliver.
A new publication provides communities and nongovernmental organisations with effective tools to secure equitable access to land and other natural resources.
An African commodities boom is in full swing, stimulated greatly by Chinese market demand and growing Chinese investment in Africa’s forests and timber. On the eve of the International Day of Forests, James Mayers asks how Africans could be better informed about Chinese investments in their forests, and how stronger China-Africa dialogue could help ensure good management of forests and the timber trade.
<p><strong><a href="http://www.iied.org/blogs/un-climate-negotiations-video-update-forest-day">Watch this video update</a> </strong>on key themes discussed at the UN Climate conference forest day.</p>
Four years ago a peaceful street demonstration in Uganda against a government plan to allow the clearance of an area of important rainforest went badly wrong.
James Mayers's blog posts with other authors
To mark World Wildlife Day on 3 March, Dilys Roe and James Mayers highlight that, despite over 100 years of international investment in conservation in Africa, wildlife is in serious trouble. Clearly, conservation needs a rethink.