Bena Smith
Senior Project Manager (Wetland Expert)
Contact details
About me
My conservation career started in the mid-1990s with practical work placements in the Wildlife Trusts and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. I then studied a postgraduate degree in Conservation Management through the University of East Anglia including a dissertation on Fire Ecology in Boreal Forests with a focus on Caledonian pine forests.
Following three years as a Reserve Officer in the Wildlife Trusts, I headed overseas to work as a forest researcher with a Nigerian based NGO, then onto Hong Kong for 12 years to manage the Mai Po Nature Reserve Ramsar Site for WWF.
In Asia, I travelled widely throughout mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea advising wetland managers on best practices in restoration, creation and management techniques. This included large-scale wetland habitat management and enhancement projects to benefit a range of species of global conservation concern, notably the iconic Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor.
I joined WWT in 2016 as a Principal Consultant, later moving into the Wetland Conservation Directorate to deliver wetland projects in East Asia and manage the Cambodia Programme. I now sit in the Wetland Services Programme at WWT.
I am a certified Professional Wetland Scientist under the Society of Wetland Scientists.
My role
I work within a team dedicated to the delivery of wetland services in the UK and internationally. My specific role is to support the development of and subsequent delivery of wetland projects and oversee a small team of UK-based staff.
Experience and interests
- Wetland habitat creation design
- Wetland restoration techniques
- Wetland monitoring
- Wetland centre design and operation
- Conservation planning
Publications
Conklin, J.R., Verkuil, Y.I. and Smith, B.R. (2014) Prioritizing Migratory Shorebirds for Conservation Action on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. WWF-Hong Kong.
Stanton, D., Smith, B.R. and Leung, K. (2014) Status and Roosting Characteristics of Collared Crow Corvus torquatus at the Mai Po Nature Reserve, Hong Kong. Forktail, 30, 79-83.
The Designation and Management of Ramsar Sites – A Practitioner’s Guide. Ramsar Regional Centre – East Asia (2017).