As Vice President of Conservation, James Lewis leads Rainforest Trust’s global effort to permanently and legally protect the world’s most critical tropical and subtropical habitats. This work spans continents and ecosystems, from lowland tropical rainforests and wetlands to montane cloud forests and tropical coral reefs. With James’ guidance, Rainforest Trust has become a global leader in land protection, safeguarding more than 52 millions acres in the tropical Americas, Africa, and Asia and Oceania to date.

James brings a deep understanding of ecological and economic complexities—and their impact upon conservation—to his work with Rainforest Trust. With this expertise, he builds and strengthens collaborations with local communities, regional and federal governments, and businesses and entrepreneurs across the globe. This, combined with his focus on linking scientific research, on-the-ground conservation, and innovative solutions, has set new standards for efficient, effective, and collaborative habitat protection, extinction prevention, and climate change mitigation around the world.

His approach works. Under James’ leadership, Rainforest Trust has established relationships with 159 new partner organizations—a 234% increase since before his tenure—signed agreements for more than 300 land protection projects and 700 smaller grants meant to assess the conservation potential of a site or further the sustainability of a protected area, and protected 41.2 million acres in the tropical Americas, Africa, and Asia and Oceania, with another 67.7 million acres in the process of being protected. James helped launch the SAVES Challenge Fund in 2016, which supported much of the above achievements. And his leadership will be instrumental in achieving Rainforest Trust’s ambitious five-year strategic goal of supporting the protection of 125 million acres across the globe by the close of 2025.

Before joining Rainforest Trust, James served as Director of Operations at the Amphibian Survival Alliance. There, he played a key role in establishing the world’s largest partnership for amphibian conservation, and facilitated the development of a fund dedicated to supporting amphibian habitat conservation. His experience also includes time working at Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Global Wildlife Conservation.

James holds a bachelor’s degree in Conservation Management from the University of Stirling and a master’s degree in Conservation and Biodiversity from the University of Exeter. Throughout his career, across continents and ecosystems, James’ commitment has remained the same: Ensuring the long-term survival of our planet’s most threatened species and habitats.