Myers applied his Pew Fellowship to investigate the issue of synergistic compounding of biodiversity problems and the role of the shifted cultivator or displaced peasant in tropical deforestation. By identifying and exploring key questions of biodiversity and then presenting the findings through scientific journals, professional conferences, political assemblies, policy gatherings and the media, Norman brings biodiversity problems and their possible solutions to the forefront of the environmental debate.
During his fellowship tenure he expanded his "hotspots" research to the mass extinction of species. He also served as guest editor for a special issue of Biodiversity and Conservation dealing with synergistic interactions and other potential discontinuities among biodiversity problems. In addition, he addressed the interconnected issues of tropical forests, biodiversity, consumption and sustainable development.
Norman Myers has been an important figure in alerting the world to the loss of biodiversity, among other front-rank problems. He is a renowned expert on systems ecology, disruption of future evolution, resource economics, population, developing-country poverty and biodiversity, with field experience in more than 50 countries. Myers conducted pioneering work in the early 1970s that established the species extinction rate worldwide to be several hundred times greater than generally supposed. Since he originated the biodiversity "hotspots" strategy for conservation planning, it has generated over $750 million for conservation activities, the largest sum ever assigned to a single strategy. He has published more than 250 papers in professional journals, 300 popular articles and 18 books.
Myers is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at Green College, Oxford University, and has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Kent, Oxford, Utrecht, Tokyo and Cape Town as well as Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, Texas, Stanford and California. In 1998, he held the post of Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Professor at UC Berkeley, where he lectured on issues of sustainable development including biodiversity safeguards and tropical forest conservation.
In addition to his academic posts, Myers has served as scientific consultant and policy adviser to U.S. and European political leaders as well as many national and international entities such as the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, OECD, the World Bank, seven United Nations agencies and the European Commission. The influence of his work is seen in the increasingly common requirement that rigorous environmental value be incorporated into policy planning from the start, as a step in the approval process for development projects backed by international lenders or aid-givers.
Over the past decade, Myers has focused a major portion of his work on the rate of tropical deforestation, demonstrating that it continues to be much higher than previously supposed.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., University of California
1973: Berkeley, California, USA
Master of Arts, Oxford University
1963: England
Bachelor of Arts, Oxford University
1958: England
KEY LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Consultant
OECD
Consultant
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Consultant
Russian Center for Environmental Policy
Board of Directors
U.S. National Research Council
Consultant
World Bank
Consultant
World Resources Institute
Global Council
KEY AWARDS & HONORS
Haas Award for International Alumnus of the Year
2004: University of California at Berkeley
Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
1998: Queen's Honours List
Sasakawa Award
1995: United Nations Environment Programme
Marine Fellow
1994: Pew Fellows Program in Conservation and the Environment
First British Scientist Recipient
1992: Volvo Environment Prize
Fellow
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Gaia Award, Italy, First International Recipient
Gold Medal
New York Zoological Society
Conservation medal, Gold medal
New York Zoological Society, San Diego Zoological Society
Distinguished Achievement Award
Society for Conservation Biology
Global 500 Roll of Honor
United Nations Environment Programme
Fellow
World Academy of Art and Sciences
Gold Medal and Order of the Golden Ark
World Wildlife Fund International
ASSOCIATIONS
African Directorate of Demographers
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
International Platform Association
National Academy of Sciences
Royal Society of Arts
World Academy of Art and Science
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