Bio and Research:
A truly interdisciplinary scientist, Professor Norman Myers was the first scientist to alert the global community to tropical deforestation, an impending mass extinction, and environmental security. He is a renowned expert on systems ecology, resource economics, biodiversity, disruption of future evolution, and developing-country poverty, with field experience in more than 50 countries. One of the chief characteristics of Dr. Myers' research is his ability to raise new questions as well as supplying new answers to established questions. He has been a pioneer on numerous major research issues, including: 1) First warning of the mass extinction of species underway (early 1970s) 2) Crisis of tropical deforestation / the hamburger connection (late (1970s) 3) Analysis of economic value of species (early 1980s) 4) Species preservation strategies / biodiversity hotspots (late 1980s) 5) Environmental security, including environmental refugees (mid-1990s) 6) Perverse subsidies foster both environmental decline and economic slow-down (late 1990s) His pioneering work in the early 1970s established the species extinction rate worldwide to be several hundred times greater than generally supposed. He then originated the biodiversity "hotspots" strategy as a major approach to curb the mass extinction underway. This approach has since generated at least $850 million for conservation activities, the largest sum ever assigned to a single strategy. Dr. Myers has received numerous awards and honors. A sample includes his 1992 award of the Volvo Environmental Prize, of which he was the first British scientist recipient. In 1994, he became the second British scientist to receive a Pew Scholarship in Conservation and the Environment. In 1995, he won the UN Sasakawa Environment Prize, again the first British scientist to be so recognized. In 2001 he won the Blue Planet Prize, the third largest such award worldwide. In 2004 he received the International Alumnus of the year Award from the University of California, Berkeley, being the first British graduate to be selected. In 1997 he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth to be a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George for "services to the global environment. He is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Art and Science, and the Royal Society of Arts. In 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of the University of Kent, England. After graduating from Oxford University in 1958, Dr. Myers spent 12 years researching wildlife in Africa before earning his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley in 1973. He has taught at several dozen renowned universities on both sides of the Atlantic, notably Oxford and Harvard. He has served as an adviser to many governments, international agencies and academic bodies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, the White House, the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Energy, the World Bank, the United Nations, NASA, the European Commission and the Rockefeller and MacArthur foundations. His awards and experiences testify to the high regard accorded to his innovative research. He has raised the awareness of influential politicians (including six prime ministers and presidents), leading policy makers, and business chiefs worldwide, notably with respect to the linkages between environmental conservation and economic development.