Kent Redford - Co-author of "Strange Natures: Conservation in the Era of Synthetic Biology”

Social Justice & Activism: The Creative Process: Activists, Environmental, Indigenous Groups, Artists & Writers Talk Diversity, Equity & inclusion

Kent H. Redford is a conservation practitioner and Principal at Archipelago Consulting established in 2012 and based in Portland, Maine, USA. Archipelago Consulting was designed to help individuals and organizations improve their practice of conservation. Prior to Archipelago Consulting Kent spent 10 years on the faculty of University of Florida and 19 years in conservation NGOs with five years as Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Parks in Peril program and 14 years as Vice President for Conservation Science and Strategy at the Wildlife Conservation Society. For six years he was Chair of IUCN’s Task Force on Synthetic Biology and Biodiversity Conservation. In June 2021 Yale University Press published Kent’s book with W.M. Adams: Strange Natures. Conservation in the Era of Synthetic Biology.

"So there are lots of different indigenous peoples who have their own world views and experiences. One of the most impressive people I know is Aroha Mead. She's a Maori, and she's a lawyer, and she has been active in this conservation organization IUCN for decades. New Zealand as a nation and the Maori as a people have engaged in very careful and systematic discussions amongst themselves about what they think about synthetic biology, and its potential use on the islands of New Zealand and in some of the areas that are sacred to them. People can read. They have written and published on some of this work. And again, the first thing to say is there is no such thing as a Maori position. There are some people who felt very strongly that this was a terrible idea, and there were other people who felt it was an essential thing to do because New Zealand has a tremendous problem with invasive species."

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230970/strange-natures/

https://archipelagoconsulting.com

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