Peter Houlihan

Peter Houlihan

EVP, Biodiversity & Conservation

Peter Houlihan specializes in planning and leading expeditions in understudied and threatened rainforests and tropical environments all over the world for conservation. Regularly operating in 25 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia, Peter works in partnership with local scientists, communities and teams, inspiring others to learn about our natural world. He has lived and worked extensively throughout the tropics, where he has led more than 50 large scale expeditions and managed long term conservation programs, particularly in Borneo, Madagascar, the Amazon, Central America, and the Congo Basin. A tropical ecologist and conservation scientist by training, Peter is a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability in the Center for Tropical Research and Congo Basin Institute, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University in Environmental Science & Policy. Peter is a frequent visiting scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, an International Advisor for the Borneo Nature Foundation, Advisor to Rainforest Partnership, and serves on the Initiative Governing Committee of Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP).

Globally, Peter's research, conservation work, and science communication have helped lead to the establishment of new protected areas and the documentation of species new to science. As a multilingual photographer, videographer, and producer, Peter fuses conservation science with high-impact media to inform broad international audiences about our planet. On camera, Peter has appeared alongside Sir David Attenborough in a BAFTA-nominated series for the BBC, across National Geographic platforms, and in an Emmy-nominated PBS documentary. His films have also won awards at Jackson Wild Media Awards and the United Nations World Wildlife Day Film Showcase. Peter is a National Geographic Explorer and Photographer, NatGeo Expeditions Expert, a Fellow of the Explorers Club, gear tester for Patagonia, and TEDx speaker.