Dave Johnston

Dave Johnston is a Senior Conservation Consultant at ZSL, working at the intersection of biodiversity protection, community-led approaches, and sustainable business. Originally from South Africa, he spent a decade in the Peruvian Amazon, co-founding two NGOs and helping establish a conservation corridor and community-led ranger programme that today protects 100,000+ hectares of high-value forest, including areas bordering territories of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation.

With experience across Latin America and Africa, Dave supports ZSL’s Sustainable Business & Finance work, contributing to programme strategy, stakeholder engagement, and communications, and helping teams translate conservation priorities into practical delivery models spanning community enterprise, private-sector partnerships, and high-integrity nature finance. He advises select conservation organisations and mission-led businesses, including Junglekeepers (previous co-founding board member) and WorkingAbroad.

In recognition of his contributions to conservation, Dave was awarded a Master of the University (honoris causa) by The Open University (2025). He is committed to inclusive conservation grounded in long-term local leadership and fair benefit-sharing.

Major Projects at ZSL

• Sustainable Business & Finance Directorate - Programme strategy, communications, fundraising support
• Western Congo Basin TRIDOM - Biodiversity economy strategy and development; fundraising
• Chagos Islands (Bertarelli Foundation) - Island tourism feasibility research
• Mozambique Coastal Communities (OCEAN Fund) - Biodiversity & blue economy; aquaculture value chain; fundraising
• SPOTT (Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit) - Communications leadership; web development; training
• Science for Private Investment in Nature (SPIN) (Kew, DEFRA) - Project management

Education

• Master of the University (h.c.) - The Open University (2025)