Nonie Coulthard.
- Bio.
- Resume
I am lucky enough to have a life-long interest in nature conservation and people, which I've been able to develop as a career; most of my working life has been spent supporting conservation and international development programmes in Africa. From 1995, I was based in Scotland (in the gorgeous Glen Isla, in Angus) with my husband, Bill Horsman. In 2008, we moved as a family to British Columbia (Vancouver Island), to experience life in a different country and culture. Whenever possible, Bill and I work together, through our company Logical Cobwebs Internet but, in practice, much of our work is carried out independently of each other. We do share an office though - and have now swapped the lovely view out over the lower reaches of Glen Isla for an equally lovely view of trees and leafy gardens and fields in Metchosin, BC (and glimpses of the Pacific Ocean from the end of the drive).
My passion for working with people and conservation in Africa began when I lived for two years in Senegal, West Africa in the early 1980s. I was a graduate student struggling to carry out research on African bee-eaters with almost no budget but the experience was fabulous. I travelled throughout the country, became fluent in French and experienced all the joys of getting to know people of a different culture and a very different way of life. Senegal is a fantastic country – incredible wildlife, landscapes from semi-desert to rain forest and spectacular coastlines, vibrant music and dance and culture, wonderful cuisine. I didn't get on very well with my PhD field work but the experience has stayed with me and opened so many doors for me since then. I managed to finish my PhD by working in the south of France (the Camargue) for several summers with a lovely team of researchers from Oxford and Sheffield Universities who encouraged me to join their long-term bee-eater research project and carry out my own research. The friendship, horses, wildlife, food, wine and way of life in the Camargue were fantastic and I have many long-lasting friendships and collaborations from those days too.
I decided that full-time research was not my vocation and that I would rather work in a more practical way in nature conservation management. In 1987 I joined RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK) International Department and spent 6 months developing European projects before moving to manage the Africa Programme, including projects in Ghana, Nigeria and a new one I initiated in Sierra Leone (probably my favourite African country) in the early 1990s. (That project and the work of many Leoneans and others led recently to the declaration of Sierra Leone's second National Park - Gola Forest). Soon after this, I was seconded from RSPB to BirdLife International (an international umbrella organisation for national conservation organisations like the RSPB with a focus on the conservation of birds and other biodiversity). At BirdLife I was Head of Africa Division for about 5 years, responsible for strategic planning of the Africa Programme, managing projects, fund raising, liaison and negotiation with host governments and donors and supporting the development of national non-governmental conservation organisations which make up the BirdLife Africa Partnership. I have travelled to and worked in more than half of the countries in Africa and made many long-lasting friendships. In 2007 I visited three African countries while carrying out consultancy work and it gave me tremendous pleasure to see the Africa Programme of BirdLife now firmly established, with a central office in Nairobi, headed up by one of my old Sierra Leonean friends and supporting a continent-wide programme of conservation action.
In 1995 I left BirdLife (sadly!) and moved with Bill to live in Scotland as a consultant working on a wide variety of biodiversity conservation, policy research, literature review, project management and evaluation and other projects, both internationally and in Scotland. Clients included Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, the National Trust for Scotland, WWF Scotland, BirdLife International, UNDP and the World Bank. I travelled rather less for a few years while raising a young family but usually managed one or two international contracts a year and also worked as a Board Member on public bodies (SNH and the Cairngorms National Park Authority - in Britain's largest and Scotland's newest National Park). I loved the work in the National Park and I particularly enjoyed using relevant experiences from elsewhere (Africa) to try to help find solutions to people/ conservation issues. The underlying principles and importance of consulting local people and taking account of the needs for socio-economic development, jobs, livelihoods etc. - alongside biodiversity conservation and real sustainable use of natural resources - are pretty much the same, even in very different geographic, cultural and economic contexts.
In 2008, we left Scotland (again, very sadly! - but with a real sense of adventure), this time to move to Vancouver Island and discover a new life and new possibilities. We love our lives here and have made some wonderful new friends, though we miss our old Angus Glens community and other friends and family very much too. The outdoors life here suits us very well and the schools and sporting opportunities are wonderful. It's amazing to live on and explore the Pacific coast for a while too - though we also miss the smaller-scale but equally wonderful Scottish west coast and our regular Hebridean holidays and adventures. It was a much harder move than we anticipated - we didn't expect the culture shock and huge bureaucratic hurdles of moving to a country which we assumed would be similar in many ways to Scotland (it isn't - despite all the links and common heritage!). I have also found it much harder than I expected to obtain work - but luckily enough I've been able to carry on international consultancy work, mainly for the UN Development Programme, doing project preparation contracts in West Africa. In 2010 I visited Togo (a new country for me - and one I really enjoyed getting to know a little) and Senegal - my first visit back there for over 20 years and I had the great good fortune to work with a very old friend and colleague who was Senegal's Director of National Parks for many years and is one of the country's foremost biodiversity experts.
In between work and family I have always been a keen outdoor sports person. At University in Dundee I was a member of the Scottish Kayak Slalom team (national champion in 1979). I have ridden horses all my life (a very useful skill in the Camargue!) and also enjoy cross-country skiing, hill running and sea kayaking. In 2003 and 2004 I took up adventure racing and took part in the Hebridean Challenge – a fantastic, friendly five-day team race, full of challenges, along the length of the Outer Hebrides. My husband Bill – and now the children - also love sport and the outdoors. Our previous home on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park allowed us to indulge in all kinds of outdoor adventures and now we are busy exploring everything that the eastern Pacific seaboard and Vancouver Island have to offer.