Hugo Rainey

Hugo has over 25 years of conservation experience in Africa and Asia, with particular expertise in site-based management. He leads The Biodiversity Consultancy’s mining team and has more than a decade of experience advising industry, lenders and governments in improving biodiversity outcomes following development. Hugo has advised mining projects in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana, Congo and, Madagascar.

Hugo led the COMBO project at the Wildlife Conservation Society supporting the definition and application of policy in six African and Asian countries and internationally for helping industry achieve biodiversity targets. Hugo managed three large protected areas in Congo and Cambodia, working in partnership with governments, communities and the private sector. He was a leading member of the team which found populations of more than 125,000 gorillas during surveys across the forests and swamps of northern Congo in the 2000s.

Hugo also led WCS’s marine team in Gabon which helped create the marine protected area network covering 26% of the country’s EEZ. He has surveyed birds and mammals in over 15 protected areas mostly in West and Central Africa.