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The Nature Conservancy (TNC), one of the world’s biggest and oldest conservation groups, has appointed a country director to run its fledgling operations in the city-state.
Tom Brzostowski, a TNC employee since 2016, takes on the leadership role and moves from New Zealand. He was previously director of strategic development for Asia Pacific, based in Wellington.
In a statement shared with Eco-Business, Brzostowski said he was pleased to launch TNC to support the government and businesses achieve their climate aspirations and “reinforce and amplify Singapore’s position as a regional and global hub for green finance, corporate sustainability and climate action and research – especially regarding nature-based solutions.”
Founded in 1951 in the United States by a group of ecologists, TNC works in 76 territories and claims to have protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers globally over its history. It has more than one million members globally. The Singapore office will add to an Asia Pacific footprint that includes offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Mongolia and Myanmar.
TNC’s launch in Singapore comes at a challenging time for non-government organisations in the region, which have faced growing restrictions on freedom of expression. In Singapore, a foreign interference law passed in 2020 gave the authorities additional powers to restrict NGOs.
A key part of Brzostowski’s job will be fund-raising. TNC raised US$18 million in funding for Asia Pacific in 2021, according to its 2022 impact report, and Brzostowski will play a key role in raising capital in Singapore, one of Asia’s key finance centres and a regional hub for carbon market trading.
Among TNC’s key global targets for 2030 are to remove 3 billion tonnes of carbon emissions per year, conserve more than 10 per cent of the world’s oceans, and help 100 million climate-vulnerable people.
Prior to TNC, where he performed various roles over six and half years, initially in London and later in Wellington, Brzostowski worked for World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), latterly as philanthrophy manager.
A trained scientist, he started out his career as project assistant for The Born Free Foundation, an organisation that works to ensure that ensure wild animals are treated with respect.
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