Martin Holdgate

Sir Martin Wyatt Holdgate CB (born 14 January 1931 in Horsham, England) is an English biologist and environmental scientist.

Early life

Holdgate was born in Horsham, England on 14 January 1931, grew up in Blackpool,^[1] and was educated at Arnold School. He then attended Cambridge University as an undergraduate at Queens' College, Cambridge from 1949, graduating in 1952 with degrees in zoology and botany^[2] and subsequently a doctorate in insect physiology.^[1]

He taught at Manchester University, Durham University and Cambridge, as well as undertaking expeditions to Tristan da Cunha, south-west Chile and the Antarctic.^[1] He was Chief Biologist to the British Antarctic Survey, then research director of the Nature Conservancy Council and, for eighteen years, Chief Scientist and head of research at the Department of the Environment.^[1] Subsequently, he was Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.^[1]

After his formal retirement, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and served as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, and Secretary of the UN Secretary General's High-Level Board on Sustainable Development.^[1]

Holdgate has received numerous awards and honours for his work.^[3]

1964 (1964): Bruce Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
1978 (1978): Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)
1983 (1983): UNEP Silver Medal from the United Nations Environment Programme
1988 (1988): UNEP 500 Award also from the United Nations Environment Programme
1991 (1991): Commander Order of the Golden Ark (Netherlands)
1991 (1991): Honorary DSc from the University of Durham
1992 (1992): Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
1993 (1993): Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
1993 (1993): Honorary DSc from the University of Sussex
1994 (1994): Knight Bachelor (styled Sir Martin Holdgate, CB)
1995 (1995): Honorary DSc from the University of Lancaster
1997 (1997): Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway, University of London
2000 (2000): Honorary member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
2005 (2005): Honorary Fellow of the Zoological Society of London
2006 (2006): Honorary DSc from Queen Mary, University of London

Holdgate has been President of the Zoological Society of London and of the Freshwater Biological Association.^[1] He is also a member and fellow of the Institute of Biology, making him a Chartered Biologist, and entitling him to use the designations C.Biol and F.I.Biol. In July 2014, he was appointed President of Friends of the Lake District.^[1]

Holdgate edited the journal Antarctic Ecology (published for the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, by the Academic Press) from the first edition in 1970. His publications include the following:^[3]

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↑ Eminent Alumni, Queens's College, Cambridge, accessed 16 February 2010
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Sir Martin Holdgate, CB, Debretts 'People of Today', accessed 16 February 2010

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