Mark Leighton is senior advisor in the Sustainability and Environmental Management Program at Harvard Extension School. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 in the department of biological anthropology, having received his PhD from the University of California, Davis focusing on rainforest ecology. Since then he has studied topics in rainforest community ecology, vertebrate behavioral ecology, sustainable forestry and land use, and conservation biology. In 1984, he founded the Cabang Panti Research Station in Borneo, which has remained a productive site for basic and applied studies carried out by many collaborating students and colleagues. He has directed several conservation and development projects in collaboration with Indonesia’s ministry of forestry. While director of the Great Ape World Heritage Species Project, he served as initial co-chair of the scientific commission of the Great Ape Survival Project, a joint effort between UNEP and UNESCO that strives to save wild ape populations and their habitats. His current research focuses on developing private-public initiatives for sustainable conservation and management of tropical forest landscapes.
Mark Leighton
