Philip Lymbery

Philip Lymbery is Chief Executive of the leading international farm animal welfare organisation, Compassion in World Farming, Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester and Vice-President of Eurogroup for Animals, Brussels. He is an award winning author, ornithologist, photographer, naturalist and self-confessed animal advocate.

For 25 years Philip has worked extensively on animal welfare issues, wildlife and the environment. He is a recognised thought leader, his lectures taking him across the globe to meet and exchange ideas with like minded specialists, experts and individuals. He regularly commentates in the media and on speaker platforms about the global effects of industrial farming. Philip has played leading roles in many major animal welfare reforms, including Europe-wide bans on veal crates for calves and barren battery cages for laying hens. Described as one of the food industry’s most influential people, he has spearheaded Compassion’s engagement work with over 800 food companies worldwide, leading to real improvements in the lives of over a billion farm animals every year. It was also Philip’s vision to set up the world’s first extinction and livestock conference in London in October 2017, bringing together Compassion in World Farming and the World Wildlife Fund, supported by HRH Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation. The conference was seen as bridging a long-standing divide between conservation and animal welfare.

Philip has always been a visionary with his writing too, always seeking new insights and helping others to learn from his international research. Philip’s first book, Farmageddon: The true cost of cheap meat, was the first to show a mainstream audience that factory farming is not only the biggest cause of animal cruelty on the planet, but is also at the centre of what is wrong with our broken food system. It received worldwide acclaim and was chosen as one of The Times Writers’ Books of the Year in 2014 and cited by the Mail on Sunday as a compelling ‘game changer’. This was followed by the publication of ‘Farmageddon in Pictures: The True Cost of Cheap Meat – in bite-sized pieces, a pictorial version of the famous and award-winning original. Philip’s second book Dead Zone: Where the wild things were has been the first book to show how factory farming is a major driver of wildlife declines worldwide: from iconic mammals, to sea life, birds, reptiles and insects and how once plentiful species now face extinction due in large part to mankind’s drive for cheap meat. It too, was chosen as one of the Daily Mail’s ‘Must Reads’ and described by New Statesman as ‘Highly informed, utterly compelling. Lymbery’s narrative threads are subtle and replete with powerful evidence. He does a superb job of equipping us with the hard facts. No author can do more’. All proceeds of Philip’s books go towards Compassion in World Farming.

Awards during Philip’s tenure as CEO at CIWF include: The Observer Ethical Award for Campaigner of the Year, BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming award for Best Campaigner and Educator, Recipient of the ‘outstanding campaigning’ award by Brussels based Eurogroup for Animals and The 2015 ‘International Golden Dove’ peace prize in Rome.