Dr. Amran Hamzah is a Professor in Tourism Planning at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and his area of specialisation is the interface between community-based ecotourism and conservation. In addition to his academic duties, Amran have successfully led more than 100 consultancy projects for international agencies such as UN Tourism, IUCN, APEC and the ASEAN Secretariat as well as national environmental and tourism agencies. Amran’s active involvement in IUCN and its commissions started more than 15 years ago during which he first served as the Deputy Vice Chair (South East Asia) for IUCN-WCPA Asia from 2011 to 2013 and Co-Chair of IUCN TILCEPA from 2014 to 2016. Between 2016 – 2021 Amran served as an elected IUCN Regional Councillor, and among others, his duties included being the Deputy Chair of the Programme and Policy Committee and member of several task forces. He also played an prominent role in the World Conservation Congress in 2021 as the Co-Chair of the Congress Governance Committee.
At the regional level, Amran had also been actively involved in activities organised by IUCN Asia Regional Office (ARO), IUCN Asia Members Committee and the Asian Protected Areas Partnership (APAP). Among others, Amran played a key role in the planning and delivery of the 2nd Asia Parks Congress that was held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia in 2022. Additionally, Amran has a deep knowledge, vast experience and wide network in the region in relation to nature conservation and sustainable development. Presently Amran is providing leadership and support in interpreting IUCN WCPA programmes in the region, especially in the context of protected and conserved areas management, World Heritage, the Nature-Culture Nexus, the Green List, OECMs and Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.