Gary J. Martin

Gary J. Martin, "Director of The Global Diversity Foundation since its inception in 1999, is responsible for establishing long-term ‘observatories’ of cultural and natural diversity at selected field sites in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In addition, he offers courses on Contemporary Issues in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecological Field Methods at various universities and field sites.

"He has been involved in conservation and ethnobotanical work for over twenty-five years, starting with a gap year in 1980 in which he carried out fieldwork in Mexico. He holds a BS in botany from Michigan State University and a MA and PhD in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. He conducted his doctoral research on the comparative ethnobotany of Chinantec and Mixed peoples of the Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico.

"From 1992 to 2000, he was a field coordinator for the People and Plants Inititive on ethnobotany and sustainable use of plant resources, a joint effort of WWF-UK, UNESCO and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

"In 1999, he was appointed Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Anthropology Department at the University of Kent, where he teaches and supervises students in the Ethnobotany MSc and Ethnobiology MPhil/PhD programs.

"He serves as a Director of Diversity Excursions Ltd., the trading subsidiary of The Global Diversity Foundation, which is dedicated to providing ecologically appropriate and scientifically informative travel to southern Morocco.

"In addition to English (his mother tongue), he speaks French and Spanish fluently."

"He has been awarded Fulbright fellowships for his work in Mexico (1985) and Bolivia (1993 - 1994), and received the 1998 Janaki Ammal Medal from the Society of Ethnobotanists, India. Since 1999, he has been a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Anthropology Department at the University of Kent, where he teaches students in the Ethnobotany MSc. programme. He became a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 2000. He served as President (2002 – 2003) of the Society for Economic Botany, the largest professional society of ethnobotanists."


 * Staff, Centre for Biocultural Diversity