Joel Heinen

Joel Thomas Heinen (born March 9, 1958) is an American environmentalist, academic, and author. He is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University (FIU).

Heinen's primary research areas center on biodiversity conservation policy and biological resources management strategies. He had served on the Interdisciplinary Committee of the World Cultural Council for many years.

Early life and education Heinen was born in Buffalo NY and raised in Hamburg NY. As a graduate student at Michigan, Heinen was awarded a 1990 Tropical Biology Fellowship to pursue an Organization for Tropical Studies course in Costa Rica and Rackham Predoctoral and Rackham One Term Fellowships in 1991 and 1992. His degrees have spanned studies in resource policy and management to vertebrate ecology and animal behavior. and previously served on the United States National Ramsar Convention Committee. While he was a graduate student at Michigan, Heinen developed research on human behavioral ecology applied to solving environmental conservation issues with his PhD advisor (Bobbi S. Low), and he has conducted many studies over the years on awareness and attitudes of local people toward wildlife and protected areas, as well as on conservation policy implementation at national and subnational levels. from 1999 to 2000 and the second to Makerere University, Uganda from 2021 to 2022. He was also awarded a Visiting Fellowship in Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation from the East-West Center, Honolulu in 2000. Since 1993, he has been on the faculty of Florida International University where he was promoted to Professor in 2008. He investigated the impact of conservation models in Nepal as well, revealing enhanced attitudes with social and economic interventions around protected areas. His study on Nepal's Community-based conservation (CBC) impact showed positive changes in conservation attitudes influenced by training, tourism, wildlife concerns, and education, indicating the approach's potential to shape favorable attitudes. He also examined the progression of Nepal's conservation areas by delving into the 1996 Conservation Area Management Regulations, shedding light on concerns regarding power dynamics with proposed solutions including improved cross-sectoral coordination within the government.

Heinen conducted research in the Western Terai of Nepal, studying Shorea robusta forests and identifying factors influencing their distinct community types based on historical disturbances. Furthermore, he compared herpetofauna in three forest stands at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, highlighting how recently-disturbed sites exhibit greater abundance but lower diversity compared to less recently-disturbed sites.

Awards and honors 1997 – Teaching Incentive Program Award, Florida International University 1999 – 2000 Fulbright Scholar, International University of Kyrgyzstan , which explored the diverse and contradictory nature of religions, delving into beliefs, sects, and historical developments, drawing parallels between religion and global suffering. Manuel Gutierrez, in an article for AFV News, wrote that the author "indiscriminately tears apart theistic epistemologies to the point beyond resurrection and reduces them to the farce that they truly are." Heinen is also a hobbyist singer/songwriter who served as board member and past president of the Folk Club of South Florida, now the Folk and Acoustic Music Club of South Florida.