Peter Jackson (27 January 1926 – 8 December 2016) was a British journalist, photographer and author, who took an interest in the conservation of tigers. In 1983 he became the Chair of the Cat Specialist Group, a position he held for 17 years. Jackson worked with

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

and was the chief correspondent for the India bureau from 1954 to 1960 and from 1962 to 1970. His interest in tigers arose during his 18 years in India as a news correspondent, which led to him working with WWF International's Operation Tiger, India's

Project Tiger Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation movement initiated in India to protect the endangered tiger. The project was initiated in 1973 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India. As of March 2025, there ...

and conservation programs in Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia. Jackson initially worked independently to promote tiger conservation. He was Chairman of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN) Cat Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) between 1983 and 2000, and subsequently became chairman emeritus. Jackson was a world-renowned tiger conservationist who was involved in tiger research and conservation efforts from the late 1960s. In 2005 a newly established subspecies of the tiger,

Malayan tiger The Malayan tiger is a tiger from a specific population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Peninsular Malaysia. This population inhabits the southern and central parts of the Malay Peninsula, and has been classified ...

, was given the name ''Panthera tigris jacksoni'' in his honour. Jackson co-authored and co-edited several publications on big cats and tigers, including ''Tiger!'' ( Boxtree 1994) with

Simon Barnes Simon Barnes is an English journalist. He was chief sports writer of ''The Times'' until 2014, and wrote a wildlife opinion column in the Saturday edition of the same newspaper. He has written three novels. The son of Edward Barnes, a co-cr ...

in association with Tigress Productions and

Meridian Broadcasting ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at midnight on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

, ''Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan'' with Kristin Nowell (IUCN 1996) and ''Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in Human Dominated Landscapes'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

1999). Jackson died on 8 December 2016 at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Peter 1926 births 2016 deaths People associated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature British ecologists