Dr Mark Otter is the International Programs Manager for WWF-Australia. He is a political scientist by training and has previously worked at the University of Queensland and the Australian government’s overseas aid agency, AusAID. He was also a naval officer some years ago.

His job is to assist in the planning and delivery of sound programs of conservation and development to countries in the Asia Pacific, paying particular attention to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and eastern Indonesia. This is one of the most important regions in the world from a conservation point of view – it has one of the planet’s largest tracts of unbroken tropical rainforest and one of its most significant marine biodiversity hotspots. It is also one of the world’s least developed regions economically and socially. WWF’s goal is to alleviate poverty at the same time as conserving the renewable, life-sustaining resources of our fragile planet.