Dr. Suwanna Gauntlett

Chief Executive Officer
Wildlife Alliance Direct Protection for Forests and Wildlife

Dedicating her life to protecting rainforests and wildlife in some of the world’s most hostile and rugged environments, Dr. Suwanna Gauntlett has set the trend for a new generation of direct action conservationists. Suwanna has designed, implemented, and supported bold, front-line conservation programs to protect threatened rainforests, save endangered wildlife populations, and directly address the causes of poverty in the tropical belt.

Originally from San Francisco, Suwanna grew up in Brazil and Europe. She founded WildAid (precursor to Wildlife Alliance), a direct action nonprofit focusing on saving endangered wildlife in the tropical belt, where 90 percent of the planet’s biodiversity is concentrated.

In 2001, Suwanna began working in Cambodia, training hundreds of rangers, building a wildlife center and veterinary clinic, and began her decade long work to assist national parks and the government to stop uncontrolled wildlife poaching and deforestation and resolve land grabbing. Working with ministries, provincial and district governors, she create a long-term land management plan. In just the first 9 months of ranger operations, 401 cases of land grabbing were stopped, 360 illegal land titles were cancelled, elephant killings were reduced by 98 percent and tiger killings by 50 percent.

She now leads Wildlife Alliance and its work in Southern Cardamom Forest Protection with the Forestry Administration including 6 ranger stations, a tropical reforestation program, a wildlife rehabilitation station, sustainable agriculture and community ecotourism. Today, nearly 2 million acres of continuous forest have been maintained in the Southern Cardamoms, one of the great forest conservation achievements in Asia.