The Nature Conservancy

M.A. Sanjayan
© Erika Nortemann/TNC

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Sanjayan recently answered questions about his journey to Sri Lanka to assess the impact of the tsunami on the environment and people.

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Read Sanjayan's Postcards from the Field, where he describes his journey to Sri Lanka with an international team of scientists conducting a rapid assessment of the environment following the tsunami.

M.A. Sanjayan, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist

Contact Information:

University of Montana c/o Wildlife Program

32 Campus Drive, Forestry Building, Room 311C

Missoula, MT 59812

Phone: 406 243-5292

E-mail: msanjayan@tnc.org

Brief Biography

Dr. Sanjayan is originally from Sri Lanka but at an early age his family moved to Africa, which is where he grew up attending high-school and discovering his passion for wildlife. He completed his Ph.D at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he did his thesis work on genetics and demography with Dr Michael Soule, one of the founding fathers of the field of Conservation Biology. After a short stint at the World Bank Sanjayan joined TNC in 1999, first as the Director of Science for the California Program, and later was named one of three Lead Scientists for the organization as a whole. Sanjayan’s past work has focused on conservation genetics, conservation planning, wildlife corridors, wildlife sampling, conservation policy, and conservation measures. He has a faculty appointment at University of Montana where he occasionally teaches graduate seminar classes. Sanjayan’s current interest focuses on two areas:

1. Is conservation a hobby for the developed world or is it possible in really poor places around the world? If so what are the driving factors? Sanjayan’s work attempts to understand the complex relationship between poverty alleviation and conservation and how some basic services provided by nature (ecosystem services) play a role in both human well-being and conservation. He is exploring this work by collecting evidence from pilot projects around the world that attempt to quantify the value of nature to poor communities and by finding evidence linking environmental degradation with reduction in health and living standards of communities. Sanjayan is involved with the Natural Capital Project (see http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/about.html), a collaborative project between TNC, WWF, and Stanford University, co-leading the node on Poverty & Conservation.

2. TNC recently launched an Africa Program. There is still much to be learned about conservation on this continent and how best TNC might add value to on-going efforts in the most crucial habitats. Sanjayan’s works with scientists and conservationists in Africa to develop a better understanding of poorly know ecoregions and of specific threats such as climate change and private land development that pose significant challenges to successful conservation.

Sanjayan splits his time between the Science Office and the Marketing and Philanthropy Department of The Nature Conservancy. His primary responsibility is to communicate, in a compelling fashion, the scientific and conservation breakthroughs we are pioneering to a broad, external audience and to donors and supporters of TNC. Further, he is responsible for recognizing trends and risks identified by the global scientific and conservation community and ensuring that TNC is not only aware of such trends but is able to deal with them appropriately. Sanjayan writes a monthly column for TNC titled “Wild Life”, is a frequent contributor to magazine articles, radio, and TV shows and is currently working on a book on poverty and conservation. He lives in Missoula, Montana, where the fishing is excellent and where all the species seen by the Lewis and Clark Expedition are still around.

1. M. Kaufmann, M. Sanjayan, J. Lowenstein, A. Nelson, K. R. Crooks, R. Jeo (in press). Using Remote Photography Methods and Analyses to Assess Carnivore Communities in Namibian Rangelands. Oryx.

2. K. R. Crooks, M. Sanjayan (eds) 2006. Connectivity Conservation. Cambridge University Press.

3. Andrew Balmford, Leon Bennun, Ben ten Brink, David Cooper, Isabelle M. Côte, Peter Crane, Andrew Dobson, Nigel Dudley, Ian Dutton, Rhys E. Green, Richard D. Gregory, Jeremy Harrison, Elizabeth T. Kennedy, Claire Kremen, Nigel Leader-Williams, Thomas E. Lovejoy, Georgina Mace, Robert May, Phillipe Mayaux, Paul Morling, Joanna Phillips, Kent Redford, Taylor H. Ricketts, Jon Paul Rodríguez, M. Sanjayan, Peter J. Schei, Albert S. van Jaarsveld, and Bruno A. Walther. (2005). The Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2010 Target. Science 307: 212-213.

4. Sanjayan, M. and Kevin R. Crooks. 2005. Missing Linkages: Reconnecting a Fragmented Landscape. In, Nature in Fragments, Columbia University Press.

5. K. Redford, M. Sanjayan. 2003. Retiring Cassandra. Conservation Biology

6. Sanjayan, M. A., R. Jeo, and D. Sizemore. 2000. A Conservation Area Design for the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. WildEarth.

7. Soulé, M. E., and M. A. Sanjayan. 1998. Conservation Targets: Do They Help? Science. 279: 2060-2061

8. Crooks, K. C., M. A. Sanjayan, and D. F. Doak. 1998. New Insights on Cheetah Conservation through Demographic Modeling. Conservation Biology. 12 (4): 889-895

9. Sanjayan, M. A., S. Shen, and M. Jansen. 1997. Experiences with Integrated Conservation Development Projects in Asia. World Bank Press, TR # 388, Washington D.C.

10. Sanjayan, M. A., and K. C. Crooks. 1996. Skin Grafts and Cheetahs. Nature. 381: 566-566: 1996

11. Sanjayan, M. A., K. C. Crooks, G. P. Zegers, and D. R. Foran. 1996. Genetic Variation and the Immune Response in Natural Populations of Pocket Gophers. Conservation Biology.

12. Kremens, C., R. K. Colwell, T. L. Erwin, D. D. Murphy, and M. A. Sanjayan. 1993. Terrestrial Arthropod Assemblages: Their Use in Conservation Planning. Conservation Biology.

M.A. Sanjayan, Ph.D. Lead Scientist

M.A. Sanjayan, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist