Tom Dallison

Senior Project Manager

Tom’s expertise includes coral reefs, coastal systems, marine spatial planning, and ecological monitoring. Joining Blue Pangolin in 2021 as a Senior Project Manager, Tom provides strategic support and evaluation for active and prospective projects. He collaborates with clients to achieve conservation goals, offering technical assistance and expertise on international, national, and local scales. Selected as one of 16 “IMPAC5’s Young Professional Committee Members,” Tom actively participates in the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and supports three International Coral Reef Initiative ad-hoc committees.

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Tom started his career in coral reefs, fisheries and their management following a Master’s degree, with distinction, in Tropical Marine Biology. Tom has implemented coral reef research and guided the effective management of marine resources in Indonesia, Caribbean and the Philippines and delivered environmental education programmes in the United Arab Emirates. Tom joined Blue Pangolin Consulting in 2021 – a consultancy company working towards the conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and terrestrial resources, as the Senior Project Manager at Blue Pangolin Consulting.

Blue Pangolin Consulting is the Designated Administrative Representative to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) – a global initiative composed of over 100 members – and Tom forms part of the ICRI Secretariat. He is also a member of the Core Team of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and is currently team lead of the Editorial Team developing the “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025” report. He has extensive experience in Marine Protected Area (MPA) and Area-Based Management Tools (ABMT) including developing innovative tools to build the technical capacity of managers for the effective management of marine resources and species. Further experience centres around international policy including the Global Biodiversity Framework and BBNJ and has implemented projects focused on sustainable financing for coral reefs and MPAs, and increasing levels of high and full protection. Tom was selected as a member of the Young Professional Committee for the 5th International Marine Protected Area Congress (IMPAC5), is a member of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Coral Specialist Commission (CSG).

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Tom at WWF's the Road to Belem event at the #ForCoral Pavilion
Credit: Nikki Riddy
Credit: Nikki Riddy
Marine Mammal Twinning Partner Group Photo
Credit: Joe Short

Publications

  • Wicquart J., Towle E. K., Dallison T., Staub F., and Planes S. (eds.), 2025. Status and Trends of Coral Reefs of the Pacific: 1980-2023. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). doi.org/10.59387/WIUJ2936
  • Schaffelke, B., Brigdale, A., Dallison, T., Koss, J., McField, M., Petit, A., Planes, S., Rocle, N., Staub, F., Towle, E., and Wicquart, J. (2025): The status and trends of coral reefs around the world – connecting science to conservation action, One Ocean Science Congress 2025, Nice, France, 3–6 Jun 2025, OOS2025-938, https://doi.org/10.5194/oos2025-938.
  • Dallison, T. et al. (2025) ‘Effectively managing area-based management tools: A new toolkit for the conservation of Marine Mammals’, Marine Policy, 172, p. 106492. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106492. 
  • Hein MY, Staub F (2021) Mapping the Global Funding Landscape for Coral Reef Restoration. International Coral Reef Initiative. 23pp. Available at icriforum.org. Contributing Author. 
  • Chapter 12. Status and trends of coral reefs of the Caribbean region, pp. 1-25 In: Souter, D., Planes, S., Wicquart, J., Logan, M., Obura, D., Staub, F. (eds) (2021). Status of coral reefs of the world: 2020 report. Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). DOI: 10.59387/WOTJ9184
  • DeGemmis, A., Claar, D., Corcoran, E., Cooper, C., Cripps, S., Darling, E., Dallison, T., Grimsditch, G., Jupiter, S., Lieberman, S., Schindler-Murray, L., Staub, F. & Virdin, J. (2021). Opportunities for Coral Reefs at the Ocean-Climate Policy Nexus. The Wildlife Conservation Society, P16
  • Vercammen, A., McGowan, J., Knight, A. T., Pardede, S., Muttaqin, E., Harris, J., Ahmadia, G., Estradivari, Dallison, T., Selid, E. & Berger, M. (2019). Evaluating the impact of accounting for coral cover in large-scale marine conservation prioritizations. Diversity and Distributions. 25: 1564 – 1574. [https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12957]
  • Knowles, R. & Dallison, T. (2020). The influence of barangay Napantao’s MPA on coral reef community assemblages in 2019. Coral Cay Conservation; Philippines. Tongham, United Kingdom.
  • Dallison, T. & Sorrell, M. (2020). Montserrat Ridge to Reef Conservation Project; a summary of the marine coastal zone and recommendations for management. Coral Cay Conservation; Montserrat. Tongham, United Kingdom.

Conferences & Events

  • The Road from Nice to Belém – The Last Stand for Coral Reefs (11 June 2025), WWF Brazil, Third UN Ocean Conference, Nice (France). Speaker.
  • The State of the Coral Reefs in the Wider Caribbean Sea (11 June 2025), SPAW-RAC, Third UN Ocean Conference, Nice (France). Speaker.
  • Valuing the Blue: Unlocking Investment Through Marine Ecosystem Valuation (10 June 2025), Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Third UN Ocean Conference, Nice (France). Speaker.
  • Paving the way to Solve the Global Coral Crisis (09 June 2025), CORDAP, Third UN Ocean Conference, Nice (France). Speaker.
  • Data, Information and Knowledge Management Strategies (15 May 2025), GEF IW:LEARN LME24, Athens (Greece). Speaker.
  • Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network: Western Indian Ocean Workshop (11 February 2025), GCRMN & GFCR, Zanzibar (Tanzania). Speaker.
  • Advancing the Marine Conservation Breakthroughs – connecting global action to Scale Nature-based Solutions (27 October 2025), CBD COP16, Cali (Colombia). Speaker.
  • Boosting Coral Health: Caribbean Strategies for Climate Resilience (25 October 2025), CBD COP16, Cali (Colombia). Speaker.
  • Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network: Caribbean Workshop (30 September 2024), GCRMN & GFCR, Puerto Morelos (Mexico). Speaker.
  • International Coral Reef Initiative 38th General Meeting (10 September 2024), ICRI, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Speaker.
  • The Coral Reef Breakthrough (11 April 2024), 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference, Barcelona (Spain). Speaker.
  • International Coral Reef Initiative 37th General Meeting (20 September 2023), Hawai’i. Speaker. 
  • Developing the Samoa National Marine Sanctuary: The Marine Mammals Management Toolkit Workshop (23 April 2024), Online, Speaker. 
  • Marine Mammals Twinning Partners Workshop (26 October 2023), Ocean Governance Project, Scituate (United States)
  • Towards effective Management of Marine Mammals: The Marine Mammals Management Toolkit (12 September 2023), IC EG MAMA – HELCOM, Online. Speaker.
  • Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas: Scoping Study for Fully & highly Protected Areas (21 March 2023), Monaco Ocean Week, Monaco. Speaker.

  • Training Workshop – “Towards Effective Management of Marine Mammals in MPAs: the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit” (7 March 2023), 3rd Humpback Whale World Congress, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). Speaker.

  • Marine Conservation Financing: High-level Segment Roundtable (9 February 2023), IMPAC5, Vancouver (Canada). Speaker. 

  • Generation Now: Welcome Reception (4 February 2023), IMPAC5, Vancouver (Canada). Speaker.

  • The Marine Mammal Management Toolkit: A tool for MPA managers and policy makers (28 October 2022), MedPAN MPA Management Effectiveness Workshop, Montenegro. Speaker.
  • A Management Toolkit for Marine Turtles: Building on the Marine Mammals Management Toolkit (18 October 2022), 7th Mediterranean Conference on marine Turtles, Tetouan (Morocco). Speaker.
  • Marine Megafauna & Blue Carbon: How protecting charismatic ocean species contributes to climate protection (29 June 2022), Whale & Dolphin Conservation, Lisboa (Portugal). Speaker.
  • The Marine Mammal Management Toolkit: A tool for MPA managers and policy makers (30 June 2025), Second UN Ocean Conference, Lisboa (Portugal). Speaker.
  • The Marine Mammals Twinning Partners Workshop 2022 (3 May 2022), Ocean Governance Project, Cambridge (UK). Speaker.
  • Training on Two Innovative Toolkits for MPA Managers to Assess MPA Marine Mammals Management and MPA Resilience-based Management (2 December 2021), MPA Forum, Monaco. Speaker.

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