Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has appointed Boon Pei Ya as regional conservation finance programme manager.
In her new role, Boon will design and manage conservation finance programmes for WCS’s work in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, countries that host the world’s third largest expanse of tropical rainforests.
She will be based in Singapore, WCS’s regional headquarters for Southeast Asia and a key location for leveraging private sector partnerships to support WCS’s conservation work.
The financing gap for addressing nature loss is estimated to be US$598 billion to US$824 billion per year.
WCS is a conservation non-profit organisation headquartered in the Bronx Zoo in New York.
Its terrestrial programmes address wildlife crime and conserve endangered species by protecting forests, while its marine conservation work includes creating marine protected areas and managing small-scale fisheries.
Boon was previously from design and engineering consultancy Arcadis, where she was sustainability manager for the region.
Over her career, she has worked in communications and sustainability for industrial conglomerate Sembcorp Industries, worked as a biologist for water services group DHI, and headed operations for Skillseed Singapore, an education social enterprise.
She also had a stint as a conservation consultant, working for non-profit clients including WCS, Birdlife International and Traffic.
