Jacob Phelps

I am an environmental social scientist with a particular interest in policy, legal and governance dimensions of tropical biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management. Trained in geography and natural sciences, I draw on a wide range of methods and approaches. I currently lead a multidisciplinary project (law, conservation, economics) that explores litigation in response to illegal wildlife trade.

I am based at the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, within the Political Ecology Research Group. I work to engage critically, but constructively at the science-policy interface. Until August 2015, was affiliated with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia, and I am Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Orchid Specialist Group - Global Trade Programme, and Co-Founder of the Nepal Conservation Research Fellowship.