October 23, 2003

I am writing in strong support of Jon Kohl, who worked under my supervision for the past two years as RARE’s Public Use Planning Manager on the UNESCO/UNEP/UNF/RARE World Heritage Partnership project entitled, Linking the Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism at World Heritage Sites. During this time, he was responsible for developing a new public use planning methodology for use in six World Heritage sites in Latin America and Indonesia, training RARE and site management staff to implement the methodology, writing a manual for site management personnel and accompanying curricula for training the trainers, and trouble shooting on, improving and adapting the model for eventual replication in additional sites. In addition, Jon played a critical role in helping launch the overall project by participating on a team charged with designing a site assessment process that RARE has used or is currently using in over 30 sites and in helping me to foster a learning environment throughout all aspects of the project.

In my eight years of international project management experience, I have found that it is only an extremely humble, intellectually curious and unique individual who is able to dig deep in his own work, find and expose weaknesses and potential risks, and then make adaptations and modifications to enhance and improve the work. Jon’s numerous contributions to the World Heritage Partnership and to RARE’s Public Use Planning Program qualify him as such an exceptional individual. Jon continually focuses on – in fact seeks out – ways to learn from and improve on his work. This has been evident throughout his tenure on my team – to name a few examples, from writing a self-critical report of our first public use planning course which received accolades from all staff including our President and Vice President and now serves as a model for similar reports, to recruiting and supervising a Duke University Master’s student thesis to better understand the barriers to implementing strategic plans in protected areas, conducting regular literature reviews to better inform his work on new developments in the field, and carrying out causal loop diagramming to better describe the multiple feedbacks in his program’s learning model. Thanks to Jon’s continual quest for improving his program, RARE is now gearing up to replicate it in other sites.

Although based outside of my own office, Jon consistently followed through on the many diverse – often complicated – tasks thrown his way, always with enthusiasm, interest and dedication. I have learned a lot from Jon over the past two years, and have often consulted him on different aspects of my own work because of the degree of openness and creativity he approaches all problem solving and decision making tasks. With his high level of efficiency and positive energy, he is a true inspiration for me and for other members of our team. I am confident that he will continue to inspire me and add value to this or any other field long after he leaves RARE. It has been a real pleasure to work with Jon and learn from him over the past few years.

If you require any further information on Jon’s qualifications and/or require clarification on any of the abovementioned comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.