Professor Carl Jones is a conservation biologist and Chief Scientist at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He will be made a Doctor of Science at the 2019 Congregations ceremonies and will be the 500th recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Kent.
Professor Jones has become a global champion for the conservation of wildlife, stemming from a lifetime dedicated to saving many of the world’s most critically endangered species from extinction. In 1979, Carl travelled to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where he would subsequently make his home for more than 20 years and, in so doing, bring Mauritius onto the world stage as a beacon of hope for anyone daunted by the prospect of saving endangered species from extinction.
After several years spent studying the Indian Ocean’s Mascarene island birds for his MSc, Carl was hired by the International Council for Bird Preservation (now Birdlife International) to take over the management of the Council’s project on Mauritius working with the critically endangered Mauritius kestrel and Pink Pigeon. These largely unknown birds were in fact two of the world’s rarest species and remnants of a once rich, pristine ecosystem that was home to the extraordinary dodo – itself an icon of extinction and Man’s irreversible impact on his environment.
Carl’s brief was to bring the then struggling conservation project to an end, but instead he saw huge potential and hope for saving the kestrel and pink pigeon from extinction. Although the odds were stacked against him, Carl set about turning the project around through dedicated fieldwork, ecological research and a passion for endangered species that galvanised local government support and led ultimately to a nationwide pride in restoring its lost biodiversity.
Carl was subsequently hired in 1985 by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, itself founded by acclaimed conservationist and author Gerald Durrell, to continue his pioneering conservation work in Mauritius. Carl set about establishing early links with the University of Kent’s School of Anthropology and Conservation (then the Department of Anthropology) which has been home to the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (or DICE) since 1989, and which provided an ideal partnership on Mauritius through the DICE mission of providing training, research and capacity-building in conservation worldwide.
Over the course of a 25-year-long partnership that continues to this day between Kent and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an organisation for which Carl is now Chief Scientist, the conservation work that he has spearheaded on Mauritius has been the subject of more than 30 PhD research projects – including at least five Kent doctorates. As part of his role with Durrell, Carl has maintained oversight on Mauritius as Scientific Director of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
Carl’s ‘hands-on’ pioneering approach to endangered species conservation, very much a signature of his leadership style, has attracted global recognition, stemming from a track record of successfully saving seven critically-endangered species from the brink of extinction.
In the New Year’s Honours list of 2004, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for the conservation of endangered species on Mauritius. In 2016, Carl Jones was awarded the prestigious Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation, for his inspiring leadership in conservation.
Professor Jones will receive his honorary Doctor of Science degree at a ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral on 16 July, starting at 14.30.