Richard Donovan

Richard Donovan, an independent senior forest advisor with a career spanning four decades and more than 50 countries, shares his deep knowledge of the world's forests in this Earth Live interview.

Donovan has worked across the full spectrum of forest conservation, from field-level natural forest management to the design of international certification systems and supply chain sustainability programs. He discusses what he has learned from walking tropical, temperate, and boreal forests on every continent, and why on-the-ground experience remains the foundation of credible forest policy.

The conversation explores the tensions between conservation and commerce, the role of certification in driving change, and what four decades of work have taught him about the gap between what we know we need to do and what we actually do to protect the world's forests.