Jonathan Michael Hutton (born 1956) is a British-born Zimbabwean

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

with broad interests in nature conservation and environmental policy whose views on the future of

wildlife conservation Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often ...

in Africa have frequently been controversial. Hutton was educated at Louth Grammar School and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...

where he received an MA in Applied Biology in 1978. After graduation, he emigrated to Africa where, in 1984, his comprehensive study of the

Nile crocodile The Nile crocodile (''Crocodylus niloticus'') is a large crocodilian native to freshwater habitats in Africa, where it is present in 26 countries. It is widely distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, occurring mostly in the central, eastern ...

and its ecology earned a DPhil degree from the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...

. For the next 10 years Hutton held various positions in the government of Zimbabwe including as Curator of Mammals at the National Museum and Senior Ecologist in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management. In 1994 he became a founder of the Africa Resources Trust (ART), an NGO that he directed from

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, for the next decade. ART sought to strengthen the role of local communities in nature conservation by generating economic benefits from sustainable wildlife management – an approach to conservation that was not widely accepted at the time. In 1998 Hutton was appointed Chair of the IUCN Sustainable Use Specialist Group which won a reputation for promoting innovative conservation strategies based on a cocktail of human rights and economic incentives. In 1999, following political difficulties in Zimbabwe, Hutton moved to the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge where he contributed to a number of research topics including the management of global wildlife trade, the application of the Precautionary Principle in wildlife management and changing narratives in conservation. In 2003, he was asked by

Fauna & Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserv ...

(FFI) to expand its wildlife conservation activities in Africa, the success of which brought him to the attention of

Klaus Toepfer Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus *Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American baseba ...

, then Executive Director of

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

(UNEP) based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a result, Hutton joined UNEP as Director of its World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) which in recent years has achieved significant acclaim for the authoritative nature and impact of its work on biodiversity analysis and assessment. Since 2016, Hutton has been Director of the Luc Hoffmann Institute. Hutton has received awards in recognition of his contribution to conservation. In 2005 he was elected a member of

Hughes Hall Hughes Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. It is the oldest of the University of Cambridge's postgraduate colleges. The college also admits undergraduates, though undergraduates admitted by the college must ...

at the University of Cambridge and in 2007 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Sustainable Resource Management at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

.University of Kent website: http://www.kent.ac.uk/sac/staff-profiles/profiles/conservation-social/honorary_staff/hutton_jon.html He is married with 3 daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Jonathan Michael 1956 births Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British ecologists Living people People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth University of Zimbabwe alumni Academics of the University of Kent