Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada is pleased to welcome Martin von Mirbach to a new position at WCS Canada -- Director for Conservation Strategy. Martin will be responsible for providing strategic oversight to WCS Canada’s programs. He will be seeking opportunities to advance our conservation objectives and improve our effectiveness and conservation impact. He will help formulate strategies to build strong relationships and formal partnerships with governments and Indigenous groups and other organizations. Martin will provide strategic guidance and leadership on the future direction of WCS Canada’s science and conservation programs with an eye towards elevating our organizational capacity to inform and effectively engage relevant policy processes and decision-making environments.  

Prior to joining WCS Canada, Martin led WWF-Canada’s Arctic program, expanding their profile by opening field offices in Inuvik and Iqaluit. Previously he was Vice President of Forest Stewardship Council Canada, where he led the process to develop FSC’s Canadian Boreal Standard.  This standard has made a difference on approximately 50 million hectares of forest in Canada, where forestry companies are guided by FSC standards to identify and conserve high conservation value forests and address the rights of Indigenous communities. Martin has also served as National Conservation Director of Sierra Club Canada.

Martin’s love for the environment started while living in Corner Brook, Nfld., throughout the 1990s. He led the Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Network; helped found the Western Newfoundland Model Forest; was Sustainable Development Chair with the Centre for Forest and Environmental Studies; and served on the Newfoundland and Labrador Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. During these years, he was also engaged in international forest policy, serving as an advisor to the Canadian delegation to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests.

Martin grew up in Ottawa and studied at York University in Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production and an M.A. in Philosophy. He has taught courses in critical thinking, environmental policy and environmental education.