My educational background is in Zoology (BSc), Ecology and Conservation (MSc) and Wildlife Biology & Management (Ph.D). After an early career (1975-1986) working with elephant conservation in the midst of river valley development in Sri Lanka, I joined UNESCO as a natural heritage officer in 1986. That led to a 25-year career during which I served as Chief, Natural Heritage, World Heritage Centre (1996-2004) and Director, Division of Ecological & Earth Sciences and Secretary, Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program (2004-2012). From 2012-2015 I was a "State Recruited Expert" under China's "Thousand Talents Program" and helped UNESCO HIST to develop international projects in Cambodia and Sri Lanka. I facilitated UNESCO-HIST's Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO Sites and Sustainable Development. Since 2015, I continue to be associated with UNESCO-HIST as a Visiting Professor. Since January 2018, I am Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Journal, Environmental Development. Beginning 2019, I am helping the Nanjing Agricultural University to establish an international commission on "Soil Technologies and Green Development". (163 words)