Jim Lynch (conservationist)

James Robert Lynch QSM (born 11 September 1947) is a New Zealand cartoonist and conservationist. Lynch is best known as the founder of eco-sanctuary Zealandia in Wellington.

In 1990, Lynch was a key contributor to a plan to restore the biodiversity of Wellington City, on behalf of the Wellington Branch of Forest & Bird. The plan, called Natural Wellington, identified multiple sites in Wellington City that could be restored and developed to enhance biodiversity. One of these sites was the former Karori water supply reservoir, which still had the status of a water catchment reserve.

In 1992, Lynch set out a proposal to Wellington City Council and the Greater Wellington Regional Council that the Karori site should become a "mainland island" for the protection of threatened native species. The site would require a pest-exclusion fence and environmental restoration, with community ownership and engagement. A feasibility study was undertaken in 1993, and the Karori Sanctuary Trust was formed in 1995 to implement the plan. A new design of pest-exclusion fence was developed for the site and completed in 1999, leading to the sanctuary becoming the first mainland pest-fenced eco-sanctuary in New Zealand. Lynch was the deputy chairman of the Karori Sanctuary Trust from its establishment in 1995 until his retirement in 2007. The Karori sanctuary was re-branded as Zealandia in 2008.