Dr Simon Lyster

Son of an Essex tenant farmer, Simon is a lawyer by training and has worked in wildlife conservation most of his professional life.   Author of the textbook International Wildlife Law, for which he was awarded a PhD, Simon worked for WWF for nearly a decade and was then Director General of the Wildlife Trusts for a further eight years.   More recently he has served on a number of Boards in the public, private and charity sectors.  He was a Board member of Natural England for six years, a non-executive Director of Northumbrian/Essex & Suffolk Water for nearly 15 years, and currently serves on both local and international charity boards.

Simon is a Commissioner on the Essex Climate Action Commission and has been appointed Chair of the Essex Local Nature Partnership.

After many years living all over the place, including in his wife’s native Brazil, Simon moved back ten years ago to the Essex farmhouse where he was born on the edge of Hanningfield Reservoir.