James Dalton is the Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Water Programme. His work focuses on advancing water governance and management for people and nature. 

Dr Dalton sits on the governance committee of the Hydropower Sustainability Council, the Board of the Alliance for Water Stewardship, and as a Technical Advisor to Climate Bonds Initiative. 

He first joined IUCN in 2009 as the Water Management Advisor. Previous to this, he was based in Fiji at the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SPC-GSD) working as the Integrated Water Resource Management Adviser. 

Dr Dalton is an irrigation engineer and holds degrees in rural development, science and politics, irrigation engineering, and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering focusing on ground water management in the Aral Sea Basin. He has worked on water management for 25 years in over 25 countries worldwide, with extended periods working in the Pacific, Central Asia, East Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.