Jon Paul Rodríguez has been working for the conservation of Venezuelan species and ecosystems since he was a biology undergraduate at Universidad Central of Venezuela (UCV) in the late eighties. With other students he co-founded Provita in 1987, an NGO that has championed numerous evidence-based projects, including several editions of the Red Book of the Venezuelan Fauna and of the Red Book of Terrestrial Ecosystems of Venezuela. After graduating from UCV in 1991, he went to Princeton University for a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology (1999), and a Certificate on science, technology and environmental policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (2000).

He currently Chairs the IUCN Species Survival Commission, is Professor at the Center for Ecology of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Investigations (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas ― IVIC), and continues to be active in Provita as the organization’s President. He defines himself as a biologist that is interested in generating information useful for informing conservation policies, without being a politician. Jon Paul is author in more than 240 publications, including books, chapters, and peer-reviewed articles in major international scientific journals.