Dr Andrew (Drew) Gardner is the Associate Director of Biodiversity Conservation at Emirates Nature-WWF, the local environmental charity that works in association with WWF, the global conservation organization. He is a zoologist and ecologist with a life-long passion for conserving wild places and the species with which we share our planet. Drew works on a range of conservation projects at the intersection of sustainable agriculture, food & water security, innovation, community development, biodiversity conservation, heritage, and ecotourism. In particular, he is working to advance agroecology to build resilient rural communities in the mountains of the UAE and implement nature-based solutions in coastal saline habitats. Previously, Drew has worked as a university professor and researcher in the UK, Oman, UAE and Australia. He has authored over 70 original scientific publications on zoology, ecology and the region’s fauna, flora, as well as the standard handbook on the amphibians and reptiles of Oman and the UAE. Drew has a degree in zoology from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in evolutionary ecology from Aberdeen University. He is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, London, and a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Emirates Natural History Group.