David Cooper is senior programme officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, based in Montreal, Canada. He leads  the Secretariat’s efforts to develop the Convention’s new strategic plan and to support implementation of the Convention at national level.  He is also part of the team preparing the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook.

Dr Cooper’s interest is in strengthening the science-policy interface. He contributed to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as a lead author of two chapters and the biodiversity synthesis, and facilitated the use of the results by policy makers through the Convention. Currently, he serves on the Scientific Committee of DIVERSITAS.

Earlier he worked for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations preparing the first report on the state of the World’s plant genetic resources.

Dr Cooper holds a degree in agricultural and forest sciences, and a doctorate in plant physiology, both from the University of Oxford.