Dr. Abdulaziz Abuzinada’s professional career has focused mainly on education and conservation. Abuzinada was awarded his PhD in Biology from the  University of Durham, UK, in 1974 and full Professorship from King Saud University, KSA, in 1986. He worked at the Faculty of Science, King Saud University for 15 years in different posts, and has an extensive record of voluntary work with IUCN: he was the Vice chair of the SSC in1993-2004, Vice president of IUCN from 2000-04 and has been the Chair of the Arabian Plant Specialist Group since 1996. Dr. Abuzinada has been the Secretary General of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) in Saudi Arabia since its establishment in 1986. In this role, he played a key part in the establishment of 16 national protected areas in  Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Plant Specialist Group (APSG), has already used IUCN criteria and provisional lists to identify some Important Plant Areas (IPAs) in Saudi Arabia and  Oman. The group has also contributed to the 2006 update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The APSG is currently drafting a strategy for plant conservation to be finalized later this year. Planned future activities include a book on the IPAs of Arabia, use of GIS in databases, publication of leaflets on criteria used to identify IPAs, and the continuation of field surveys for IPAs in other regions.