Tony Cunningham

Dr A B (Tony) Cunningham "is an ethnoecologist/applied ecologist working on natural resource use by local people. Over the past 25 years, he has worked in East Africa, southern Africa, West Africa, South Asia (Nepal, India) and to a lesser extent, Oceania (Australia, Fiji) in habitats from desert to tropical rainforest. His main interest is the links between people and conservation, centred on the resource values (economic, medicinal, nutritional, utilitarian) of natural resources to people and conflicts between conservation areas and local communities. In 2004, he was GP Wilder Chair, University of Hawaii, teaching an interdisciplinary ethnoecology course bridging marine & terrestrial environments.

"Tony is the author or co-author of over 70 publications, including “Applied ethnobotany: people, wild plant use and conservation” (Earthscan, 2001). He helped start the WWF/UNESCO/Kew international conservation programme, the “People and Plants Initiative”, and is on the international steering committee."

• Associate, Gaia Foundation