Contacts
Dr.ROBERT MATHER
Head of Southeast Asia Group
Tel: +66 2 262 0529-31 ext. 227
Mobile: +66 8 1826 2657
Email: robert.MATHER@iucn.org
Robert Mather earned a PhD from Cambridge University in 1992, based on field work on primate ecology in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Robert joined WWF in 1993 to coordinate a large project for the Huay Kha Kaeng-Thung Yai Naresuan World Heritage site, in western Thailand, and subsequently established the WWF Thailand Office in 1995, taking it from a start-up operation to a nationally well-known and respected organisation with 60 talented staff by 2005. During this time Robert helped develop, provide technical support for, and supervise implementation of projects working on conservation of elephants, tigers, and marine turtles, as well as a number of environmental education programmes, protected areas management work and a major campaign on the illegal wildlife trade. He also initiated a number of innovative partnerships with the private sector.
Robert started to work on Mekong issues in 2001 and from 2005-2008 led WWF’s Living Mekong Programme based out of Vientiane, Lao PDR. During this time the programme enjoyed rapid growth and a multimillion dollar annual budget, focused on environmental issues in hydropower development, road construction in headwaters and floodplain areas, conservation of priority sites throughout the basin from the Tibetan Plateau to the Delta, Mekong Dolphins, Mekong Giant Catfish and the linkages between local livelihoods and sustainable management of wetlands. Robert joined IUCN in September 2008 and since that time has been responsible for IUCN’s programme in 3 countries – Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In addition to providing overall management responsibility and supervision of IUCN’s programmes in these three countries,
Robert is also involved in a number of IUCN flagship initiatives in the region – including Livelihoods and Landscapes (LLS); Mekong Water Dialogues (MWD) and Mangroves for the Future (MFF). Working closely with colleagues in WWF and other organisations Robert is also presently part of a small team trying to establish the Mekong Ecosystems and Livelihoods Adaptation Network (MELAN)
Dr.MATTHEW MARKOPOULOS
Thailand Programme Manager
Tel: +66 2 262 0529-31 ext.237
Email: matthew.MARKOPOULOS@iucn.org
Matthew has spent the past 17 years working with forest policy and natural resource management issues. He has worked in Asia for much of this time, mainly in Thailand, China and Southeast Asia in general. His experience has included policy formulation and impact analysis, community forest certification, project and programme development, knowledge management, and communications. Before joining the Thailand programme, Matthew was IUCN's Regional Forest Governance Officer for Asia, responsible for coordinating the Union's forest law enforcement and governance work in the region
SOMSAK SOONTHORNNAWAPHAT
Senior Programme Officer
Tel: +66 76 491026
Email: Somsak.SOONTHORNNAWAPHAT@iucn.org
Somsak joined IUCN Thailand in 2004. His professional interests hold for forest conservation and sustainable agriculture. After a bachelor in Dairy Production (Maejo University/Chiang Mai), he did his Master in Environmental Science at Murdoch University, Western Australia. He stayed in Australia for eight years, before returning to Thailand. He has been working with a large number of Thai and international non-governmental organisations, among them Save the Children USA, Population and Community Development Association (PDA) and the Royal Project.
Since three years, he is concerned with the conservation of the water onion crinum thianum, an endemic and endangered freshwater plant species of Southern Thailand.
Somsak is the marine and coastal focal point of IUCN Thailand. He has been involved with Thai coastal zone management since the Tsunami 2004.
Somsak is based in IUCN Thailand's Kuraburi office and involved in the following projects:
Livelihoods and Landscapes (Southern Thailand) (LLS)
Mangroves for the Future (MFF)
TAWATCHAI RATTANASORN
Senior Programme Officer (Land&Water)
Tel: + 66 8 1907 4434
Email: Tawatchai.RATTANASORN@iucn.org
Tawatchai joined IUCN Thailand in 2005, when he coordinated the Mekong Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme. He holds a B.Sc of Agriculture and a Master of Education (Non Formal Education) from MaeJo and Chiang Mai University/Thailand. He has a strong background in various aspects of development work, in particular linking environmental conservation with social aspects like poverty reduction, community development, local governance and decentralization. His professional interests focus on natural resources management, biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture.
Previous positions he held in a joint development project of the Office of the Narcotic Control Board and GTZ; a Sustainable Agriculture Development Project at the Thai Ministry of Agriculture; a Social Support Project at the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives; the Mekong Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme of IUCN, UNDP and the Mekong River Commission; at CARE-Raks Thai Foundation
and other national and international NGOs and government organizations.
Tawatchai currently coordinates the following water and forest related projects at IUCN Thailand:
Livelihoods and Landscape Strategy (Northern Thailand) (LLS)
Poverty Reduction in the Doi Mae Salong Landscape
Mekong Water Dialogues (MWD)
RADDA LARPNUN
Programme Officer
Tel: +66 2 2620529-31 ext. 224 Mobile: +66 8 5664 1116
Email: Radda.LARPNUN@iucn.org
Radda Larpnun has worked in Natural Resources Management and Journalism for 18 years. She started her career as a feature writer for magazines and newspapers and moved on to working in natural resources management in 1998. Radda holds a Masters in Conservation and Tourism, from the Durell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent at Canterbury/UK. During her career she has worked for three major international conservation organizations in Thailand. Over the last two years, she has supported IUCN Thailand in many roles, which include communication and advocacy, private sector and member’s engagement, and coastal island ecosystem management.
Radda is involved in the following project:
Innovative partnerships in the conservation management of the Sirinard Rajini Mangrove Ecosystem Learning Centre in Pranburi
Participatory integrated Waste managment for conserving coral reef around Koh Tao, Suratthani
Integrating biodiversity values into natural resources management practices in Thailand
PETCHRUNG SUKPONG
Project Officer
Tel: +66 76 491026
Email: Petchrung.SUKPONG@iucn.org
Petchrung joined IUCN Thailand in 2007. She has a passion for coastal and marine ecosystems and has previously been working in environmental projects on Thailand's coasts with Greenpeace, UNOPS and other national and international organisations. She now gives technical guidance to marine and coastal ecosystem conservation in Southern Thailand, focussing on reef and seagrass ecosystems. She also assists in conducting various assessments in aquatic ecosystems in Southern Thailand and is involved in building up a Youth Group Network in Northern Andaman (Southern Thailand).
Petchrung is based at IUCN Thailand's Kuraburi office and involved in the following projects:
Livelihoods and Landscapes (Southern Thailand) (LLS)
Mangroves for the Future (MFF)
SIRIPORN SRIARAM
Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Thailand National Coordinator
Tel: +66 2 262 0529-31 ext. 229
Email: Siriporn.SRIARAM@iucn.org
Siriporn joined IUCN Thailand in July 2008 as the Thailand Coordinator for Mangroves for the Future (MFF). She holds a B.Sc. in Biology and a M.Sc. in Environmental Biology from Mahidol University/Bangkok. She previously worked with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources as field officer in a UNEP/GEF/SCS project.
Siriporn is involved in the following project:
Mangroves for the Future (MFF)
