News Published: 12 September 2024

Paul Smith, BGCI’s Secretary General, is taking sabbatical leave until the new year, and Carly Cowell will be acting Secretary General during that time.

BGCI staff members have the opportunity to take a sabbatical after 10 years or service, and Paul will be taking his from mid-September to the end of December in advance of BGCI’s new Chair, Peter Wyse Jackson, joining BGCI in January.

Paul will still be doing some BGCI business at New York Climate Week in September and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Leaders meeting in Abu Dhabi in October but he will also be doing vegetation survey work in Africa, writing, reflecting (!) and making a nuisance of himself at home.