Grupo Especialista en Grandes Carnívoros de la Iniciativa para Europa de la CSE de la UICN

Luigi Boitani is Honorary (Emeritus) Professor of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology at the University of Rome, Dept. of Biology and Biotechnologies. He has been Chair of the Department of Animal and Human Biology for 10 years (2000-10) and President of the Society for Conservation Biology (2009-11). Founder and Director of the Master program “Conservation of animal biodiversity” at the University of Rome, 2002-14. Affiliated Professor at the Department of Natural Resources, Idaho University, Moscow and member of the College of Graduate Studies, 2000-2011.

His main scientific interests are on a) the social ecology of carnivores, particularly wolves and bears on which he has been working since 1972; b) patterns and models of species distributions based on GIS tools; and c) planning and conservation of protected areas, with emphasis on Africa and Europe where he has contributed to the management plans of more than 30 national parks. He has lectured widely in North America and Europe.

He has been member of the IUCN’s SSC Steering Committee since 1994. He is the Chair of the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, a SSC Specialist Group; Chair of the IUCN Red List Scientific Committee; CEO of the Fondation Segré in Geneva; founder and president of the Institute of Applied Ecology in Rome. He received the WWF Conservation Award and the IUCN Peter Scott Award for Conservation Merit in 2012. He is author of more than 400 scientific papers and 10 books.