The MAP Team

Conner Bailey

Dr. Conner Bailey, Auburn University, USA, is a renowned social anthropologist who has extensive experience working in Southeast Asia and Central America. He has written academic and popular articles on the socio-economic impacts of shrimp aquaculture development in these regions.

Ian Baird

Dr. Ian Baird, co-founder and executive director of the Global Association for People in the Environment (GAPE), a Canadian NGO working in mainland Southeast Asia, is also one of the co-founders of MAP. Between 1995 and 2003 he was the coordinator of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives in Laos and has also worked extensively with local fisheries in the Mekong River basin in developing community-based co-management approaches. Ian is currently a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Barry Bendell

Dr. Barry Bendell, MAP Associate, Thailand, works with invertebrates in seagrass meadows, and completed a PhD on the subject at James Cook University, Australia. Previous work involved freshwater communities with the Canadian Wildlife Service. He is now collaborating with MAP, monitoring seagrass, and researching the impacts of small marine protected areas established by local communities on Phra Thong Island.

Pisit Charnsnoh

Pisit Charnsnoh, President, Yadfon Association, Thailand, is a co-founder of MAP, as well as co-founder of Yadfon (Raindrop) Association. He has been recognized by the Thai Royal Family for his pioneering work in creating models for village-management of mangrove forests, is an Ashoka Fellow, and has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize (2002) and the Rolex Award (2004).

Daniel A. Friess

Dr. Daniel Friess is an Associate Professor in Geography at the National University of Singapore, and the head of the Mangrove Lab (www.themangrovelab.com). His research group works on the ecosystem services of mangroves, the threats that mangrove face (particularly deforestation and sea level rise), and their rehabilitation. Dan conducts research across Southeast Asia, Madagascar and New Caledonia, and has conducted rehabilitation work and research in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Khushi Kabir

Khushi Kabir, Director, Nijera Kori, Bangladesh, works for the rights of the poor. Nijera Kori is one of the most respected NGOs in Bangladesh, having achieved significant victories for both the local communities and the environment. Their call to Save the Sundarbans is one which MAP supports.

Weena Namcharoensombut

Weena Namcharoensombut began her career as a volunteer in the Thai Volunteer Service Foundation, where she worked with hill tribes and stateless people on the Thailand-Myanmar border and in Chiang Rai for almost three years. Her experiences during this period working with hill tribe children and villagers were influential in shaping Ju’s passion for the human rights of marginalized people as a volunteer working with marginalized people.

Christophe Proisy

Dr. Christophe Proisy is a researcher at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) presently developing research at the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), India. He is a specialist in remote sensing of mangroves with field experience in French Guiana, Brazil, Indonesia and India. He has written numbers of academic articles showing how mangrove habitats in terms of species composition and forest structure can be described and monitored from the plant to regional scales over decades.

Jorge Varela

Jorge Varela, Coordinator, CODDEFFAGOLF, Honduras, received the Goldman Prize (1999) in recognition of his achievements in mangrove forest conservation, while addressing the serious problems associated with shrimp aquaculture and working for the rights of local fisher communities in Honduras. He has traveled around the globe advocating for sustainable and equitable development.

Donnapat Tamornsuwan

Donnapat Tamornsuwan, Senior Field Officer, Raksthai Foundation (Care Int.), Thailand. Donnapat is an ecologist with 10 years experience of applied wetlands conservation and natural resource management in Southern Thailand. He is an expert in bird ID with a special focus on shorebirds. He has been involved in development projects on responsible use of natural resources, biodiversity assessments, and promoting community participation in conservation through several major projects in Krabi and Trang provinces.. He has been cooperating with MAP-Asia since 2006 on trainings, mangrove field work and environmental education.

Fiona Wilmot

Dr. Fiona Wilmot runs Keys Connectivity, Inc. St. Petersburg, Florida, USA which provides support services for stakeholder groups engaged in marine conservation and social justice. She has worked primarily for the National Marine Sanctuary Program in the Florida Keys and also provides assistance to the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute. She is presently studying for her doctorate at Texas A&M University focusing on political ecology working with select coastal communities in El Salvador with a view to see how they adapt to environmental, economic and political change.

Karen Cummins

Karen Cummins has twenty years of progressive experience applying geospatial technologies as a decision-making tool to prioritize conservation areas and environmental impacts. She has served as a coordinator where she managed several grant projects, as well as serving on project advisory committees for forestry and environmental restoration. Karen has an M.S. in Rangeland Ecology from Texas A&M University where she specialized in watershed management and is presently working at Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy in Tallahassee, Florida.

Abdoulaye Diame

Abdoulaye Diame, Coordinator, WAAME, Senegal, is working in local communities in the mangrove zone near Dakar. He is coordinator of the West African Mangrove Network, WAM Net, an association of West African NGOs working to conserve mangrove forests in their region.

Maurizio Farhan Ferrari

Dr. Maurizio Farhan Ferrari, Forest Peoples Programme, U.K., is coordinator for the Wetland Forest Peoples Programme of FPP and is actively committed to local community empowerment and rights in management of coastal resources.

Peter Vandergeest

Dr. Peter Vandergeest (Ph.D., Cornell, 1990) teaches and writes in the areas of political ecology, agro-food studies, and the cultural politics of environment and development. Current and recent research encompasses agrarian studies in Southeast Asia, the history of scientific forestry in Southeast Asia, privatizing environmental regulation in industrial aquaculture, and democratization in natural resource management.