Joe Goergen

Joe Goergen is a wildlife professional and international policy expert with 10 years of experience promoting sustainable use and community-based natural resource management. He is currently Head of International Policy & Advocacy for Jamma International, a UK-based foundation supporting a vision for a North American public policy space that understands and accepts human centered conservation in southern Africa by facilitating effective engagement from indigenous peoples and local communities. Joe leads Jamma’s advocacy campaigns through strategic partnerships, direct policy engagement, and public affairs initiatives. He is also interested in developing more robust hunting tourism markets, particularly in the United States, that are mobilized to support indigenous peoples and local communities and promote positioning the industry within southern Africa’s sustainable wildlife economies.

Joe previously worked as Conservation Manager at Safari Club International Foundation where he worked directly with government agencies, academic institutions, and other non-profits to fund and implement research projects around the world. He led the transformation of a high-level annual conference into a powerful network of African conservation leaders supporting community engagement with governments and tourism industries. He has also represented organizations at a leadership level in multilateral environmental agreements such as CITES, IUCN, and other global biodiversity arenas.

He recently completed his MSc from the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Boone and Crockett Program in Wildlife Conservation at Michigan State University where his thesis evaluated environment and governance drivers of income from hunting and photographic tourism earned by communal conservancies in Namibia. He also served as Managing Editor of the communications platform Conservation Frontlines. He is a Research Fellow at the African Wildlife Economy Institute and member of IUCN’s Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group. Joe received a BA in Environmental Studies from Tulane University in New Orleans but is originally from Wisconsin where he still enjoys hunting and fishing. He is a personal member of Ducks Unlimited and Wild Sheep Foundation, and enjoys engaging with CSF’s network in Washington, DC where he is based.