Honorary Members

Honorary members are individuals selected by the Board of Trustees for having excelled in international conservation. They are consulted for their expertise and invited to participate in the AGM of ICS.

Lucy Cadbury

Chris Feare

Carl Lundin

Honorary Member

Lucy Cadbury lives in Cambridge, UK and is a trustee of ICS (UK) and the C James Cadbury Charity. She has a long standing interest in national and international nature conservation. Lucy first visited Aride in 1984 with her grandfather, Christopher Cadbury. From an early age she assisted on bird censuses at Hickling and Arne and with plant surveys at Tiree and Abernethy Forest. Lucy holds a degree in Linguistics and Speech and Language therapy. She is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian. She has worked for League pour la Protection des Oiseaux in Brittany, Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli in Italy, as Academic Director teaching English in Quito, with Street Children in Loja (Ecuador) with RSPB on Islay living there for several years, at Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge and has taught English in different language schools.

Honorary Member

Professor Chris Feare, from UK, is an ornithologist specialising in bird conservation and the management of invasive birds. He has published 5 books and over 200 scientific publications, including 60 on his research in Seychelles. In 1972 he began a study of the Sooty Tern egg harvest in Seychelles and he visits annually to continue these and other issues of conservation concern. Current investigations include geolocator, GPS and satellite tracking of Sooty Terns, and methodology for eradicating Common Mynas. Formerly a researcher at the UK Ministry of Agriculture, he runs WildWings Bird Management. He is a former Council member and Vice-President of the BoU, chairman of its conference committee and formerly edited Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club and Advances in Vertebrate Pest Management.

Carl Gustaf Lundin joined Blue Mission as Managing Director in 2021. Prior to that he was Coordinator of IUCN’s Global Marine Programme and its Director since 2001. His primary responsibilities concerned marine protected areas, developing partnerships, sustainable fisheries management and climate change effects on marine resources. Before joining IUCN he worked with the World Bank for 12 years, where his main focus was on coastal and marine management issues including projects in Argentina, Baltic States, China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania. He has a Bachelors degree in Biology from Uppsala University in his native Sweden, and a Licentiate in Philosophy, Natural Resources Management, from Stockholm University. He has written a wide range of books, reports and publications in this field.

Thalissa Inch

Lars Kristoferson

Murray Collins

Honorary Member

Thalissa Inch, based in London, is a PhD student specialising in seabird ecology and sustainable management of tropical island ecosystems. Raised between Seychelles, France, and the UK, she developed an early passion for marine biology, guiding her career toward conservation of vulnerable tropical species. Her research focuses on seabird population decline, particularly the Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) in Seychelles. Beginning with her master’s thesis on egg harvesting impacts at Bird Island, she later transitioned from public relations into conservation science. She is pursuing her PhD at ZSL and UCL in partnership with the Island Conservation Society. Author of a key peer‑reviewed study, she remains dedicated to restoring seabird colonies in the Western Indian Ocean through evidence‑based conservation and outreach.

Professor Lars Kristoferson, holds a PhD in Plasma Physics. He served the Environment Institute of the Royal Academy of Sweden, was Vice Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute and Secretary General of Baltic 21 and Adjunct Professor of International Environmental Policy of Stockholm University before joining WWF Sweden as Secretary General between 1999 and 2007. He has served as Consul General for Seychelles in Sweden since 1984 and in 2020 was awarded the position Honorary Consul Emeritus. He has been a Board Member of Seychelles Islands Foundation, Advisor to the Seychelles University and was member of the Prime Minister's Sustainability Commission in Sweden. He has published extensively on various regional and global environmental matters.

Murray Collins holds all things Wild and all things Conservation close to his heart, and he counts it a great privilege to be in a position where he is able contribute to making a difference. At home in South Africa, Murray serves on the Board of Manyoni Private Game Reserve affording him many opportunities to preserve our wildlife, while simultaneously uplifting the local community. His desire to care for our earth has also seen Murray extend his “Conservation Footprint” globally. As a director of Biocarbon Partners, he endeavours to combat climate change through protecting the forests in Zambia, and works relentlessly to promote, rehabilitate and enhance conservation in the outer islands of Seychelles as an Honorary Member of the Island Conservation Society and trustee of Alphonse Foundation.

Tim Sands

Honorary Member

Tim Sands is a Trustee of ICS (UK) and Vice-President of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. He retired in 2005 after 40 years working in natural history and nature conservation, first at the City Museum in Sheffield and the Council for Nature in London and then for 30 years at the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Latterly he was Director of Conservation and then Head of Parliamentary Affairs at RSWT and throughout his career specialised on campaigning work in the Westminster Parliament. He was a Trustee of RSWT 2005-2011 and, in 2012, published Wildlife in Trust – hundred years of nature conservation, a history of the Society and the Wildlife Trusts. He has been involved in the conservation and management of Aride Island since the 1980s and with Adrian Skerrett compiled and edited Aride Island – tread lightly, which tells the story of the island’s first 40 years as a nature reserve.

Eddie Belle

Honorary Member

A Seychellois national, Eddie holds a 1st Class Honours in Chemistry from the University of Lancaster (UK) and a Masters in Geology from University of Texas (USA). He trained with the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and in Washington DC. He has served as Deputy CEO of Seychelles Petroleum, Managing Director of Seychelles National Oil Company, Principal Secretary in Ministry of Tourism and Transport and taught biology at Seychelles College. He has authored or co-authored several papers on the geology of the Seychelles and served as Chairman of the National Monuments Board and on the Board of Trustees of the Seychelles ex-servicemen. He was also an Island Conservation Society Trustee, Council member, and Chairman of the Silhouette Foundation until his retirement from active service in 2020.

Rob Lucking

Honorary Member

Rob Lucking worked for BirdLife International in Seychelles between 1992 and 1997 managing the Seychelles Magpie-robin Recovery Programme on Aride and Fregate. Upon returning to the UK, he worked for the RSPB for over 20 years in a variety of reserve management, conservation policy, species recovery, team management and business development roles. He is now an independent ecological consultant, wildlife tour leader and a trustee of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. He was elected as a trustee of ICSUK in 2019, becoming Chairman in 2021 and is also a member of the Aride Advisory Committee. His main conservation interests are habitat creation, management & restoration and species recovery. In his spare time, Rob is a keen ornithologist and has been a member of the Seychelles Bird Records Committee since 1998.

Suketu Patel

Honorary Member

Suketu Patel is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and Senior Partner of Pool & Patel, the largest financial services firm in Seychelles. Certified in International Reporting Standards, he was the Managing Director of Coralline United Touring from 1977 to 1980. A former national footballer (1971–1985) and trainee with Leyton Orient FC, he remains a passionate Leeds United supporter. His football leadership includes President of Seychelles Football Federation, 1st Vice President of CAF, Vice Chair of FIFA Reform Committee (2012), and member of FIFA Audit & Compliance Committee. Beyond sport, he has served on several Boards including the Rotary International, Seychelles Economic Council, Financial Services Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Petroleum Company, Moyenne Foundation, and the Island Conservation Society (ICS).

Dr Jeanne A. Mortimer

Honorary Member

Dr Jeanne A. Mortimer, born in Chicago, is an international conservation biologist specializing in sea turtles and tropical coastal ecosystems. She has worked in more than 20 countries across six continents. She arrived in Seychelles in 1981 to conduct a national sea turtle survey and has since served as consultant to the Government and became a Seychellois citizen in 2007. Living for years on outer islands, she has visited nearly every island in the archipelago. Her interests include conservation in Seychelles and the Western Indian Ocean, and the biology of sea turtles, giant tortoises, and seagrass. A member of the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group since 1979, she received the International Sea Turtle Society Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and has authored over 200 publications.

Matthew Morgan

Honorary Member

Matthew Morgan is an experienced conservationist with a career spanning almost a decade in the Western Indian Ocean region. His expertise includes both terrestrial and marine conservation, making him an asset to any conservation project. He is well-versed in the structure and objectives of ICS, having served as Conservation Officer on Desroches and Farquhar Atoll, as well as Head of Science and Projects at Head Office. His leadership skills and knowledge have contributed significantly to the success of notable research projects, including the National Seagrass project, and the National Sooty Tern census. He has a deep understanding of ecological monitoring techniques, and well-developed data handling and GIS skills. Although Matthew left ICS in 2022 to pursue a PhD in England, he remains committed to maintaining links with the organization and hopes to continue contributing to ongoing conservation efforts in Seychelles.

Edwin Palmer

Honorary Member

A businessman born in UK and resident in Seychelles since 1984 and naturalized since 1996, Edwin graduated in Physics at Oxford University and then joined Guinness as a brewer. He ran a number of Companies for Guinness including Guinness Malaysia and Guinness Cameroon and looked after Guinness interests in Africa until 1984.

He then ran Seychelles Breweries for twelve years. Now retired, he runs a local "Seychelles Secret" guest house, Chepsted Chalets. He has served on the Board of the Environment Trust Fund and on the National Monuments Board. Edwin is also a Chairman of Desroches Foundation and he has been a member of Aride Management Committee since 2003.