Dr William Jackson  is the Deputy Director General of IUCN. Under the direction of IUCN's Director General he is responsible for the strategic oversight of IUCN's secretariat including its conservation programme. He has overseen the development of IUCN's programmes since 2000, introducing consultative mechanisms with IUCN's members and partners.

Prior to this appointment he was the Director, Global Programme responsible for managing IUCN's Programme at the global level to ensure effective and timely planning, delivery, monitoring, and evaluation of an integrated and coherent programme for IUCN.

He has also held the position of Head of IUCN's Forest Conservation Programme and was responsible for coordinating the Union's programme on forests. Before joining IUCN Headquarters, he worked with IUCN in Eastern and Southern Africa assisting the regional programmes to establish a comprehensive approach to monitoring and evaluation of the IUCN programme.

He has extensive field experience in ecosystem conservation and management at global level and in Asia, Australia and Africa. He has worked with many governments, international organisations and IUCN partner organisations in devising conservation programmes and policies and in evaluating conservation and rural development projects.

His PhD focused on community management of upland and cloud forests in Nepal. He has a keen interest in promoting the role of civil society in linking conservation practice with policy. He has published a number of articles and books on community forestry, conservation, and monitoring and evaluation of projects.