Chris Mahon

I have degrees in Environmental Science (BSc. (Hons.)) and Environmental Assessment (MSc).

For thirteen years I led the Cheshire Wildlife Trust as its Director and latterly, its Chief Executive, as well as being the Managing Director of the Trust’s consultancy. Prior to this, my career lay in local government as a planning department ecologist in Cheshire.

During that time I was active in local environmental leadership, majoring on partnership working;  I chaired both the Cheshire and Warrington Sustainability Alliance, and the Cheshire and Warrington Climate Change Group and was a leading figure in the Biodiversity Action Planning process for over a decade.

I have been Managing Director of my own consultancy company, Chris Mahon Environment (CME), since 2007. Interesting contracts which I currently deliver through CME include:

• being the Chief Executive of the UK National Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with projects being delivered for protected areas and river restoration and biodiversity (iucnuk.wordpress.com ).
• as the Development Director of World Heritage UK (worldheritageuk.org ), a charity committed to advocacy, networking and promotion of the UK’s 31 World Heritage Sites.
• Secretariat Services for environmental charity The Sibthorp Trust (sibthorp.org.uk ), currently working on the Ecosystem Approach and working with young people.

I currently live near Clare in Suffolk and have been fortunate to have travelled extensively, having attended the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development as well as other international conferences, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and three IUCN World Conservation Congresses. I chair both a global group of regional representatives for IUCN and a similar network for Europe, North and Central Asia as well as having a wide network of environment contacts in the home nations of the UK.