James Hardcastle

James Hardcastle leads IUCN’s Protected and Conserved Areas work. James helped develop the IUCN Green List, the flagship sustainability standard for fair and effective area-based conservation.

James has over 25 years’ experience in conservation action that benefits people, nature and our climate. He has worked in technical capacities for a range of environmental agencies, as well as the private sector, and is a former journalist. To date he has lived and worked in protected and conserved areas in Australia, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, Western Indian Ocean and in Europe. He was one of the first foreigners to work for the Vietnamese Forest Service, and he has represented the Republic of Marshall Islands in their delegation to the UN Climate Change Convention.

James is currently leading IUCN’s collective engagement on the proposed global target of 30% of the planet protected under systems of fair and effective conserved areas, by 2030 (the 30x30 ambition), related to the UN Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.