Catherine Barton is Chester Zoo’s policy lead for deforestation commodities and regenerative agriculture. She joined the UK zoo in 2008 after working at wildlife media charity Wildscreen. Her roles at Chester Zoo have included project monitoring and evaluation, communications and conservation campaigning.
Barton is interested in commodity-driven deforestation, sustainable agriculture and supply chains. She has created a network of national and international stakeholders in order to drive sector change to protect tropical rainforests and reduce deforestation to benefit biodiversity and climate change.
She is responsible for developing field projects that link wildlife conservation with sustainable agriculture and forest risk commodities. She currently focuses on sustainable palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia. Barton represents the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) , the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) on sustainable agriculture groups.
Through her work with BIAZA, Barton is a member of the UK industry roundtables on sustainable palm oil and soya. She calls for changes in legislation and practices within certification schemes, industry and government to ensure deforestation-free supply chains. She also co-created the ‘Sustainable Palm Oil Communities’ project, which aims to drive a cultural shift towards deforestation-free sustainable palm oil. The project saw Chester become the world’s first ‘Sustainable Palm City’.
“We have millions of visitors every year,” Barton told blooloop. “Zoos globally have millions of visitors, so we in this community have a huge opportunity to talk to the public. Education is really important for us. We added signage around the areas where orangutans and other species impacted by oil palm were, talking about sustainable palm oil. Plus, we encouraged our staff to talk about sustainable palm oil as well. This was a really key step.”
Chester Zoo is working with other communities across the UK and is keen to expand the programme internationally. Find out how to get involved.