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the nature conservation bodies of the four UK nations. The Forum asked me to edit a Handbook of Urban Ecology (2010) and to be co-author of Urban Ecology: an Introduction (2014; second editions 2020 and 2024), which had worldwide contributors and helped expand university teaching and research in urban ecology. Another area of activity arose from the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC), which asked me to help stage a Commonwealth NGO event before the 1993 Partnerships for Change Conference organised by the UK government as a follow-up to the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference on Sustainable Development. I believe that, little by little, some of this activity has done some good, both for my 40 PhD students and for villagers such as those in the Maldives, Samoa, India, the Gambia and Nigeria that CHEC’s projects have supported. The language, writing and historical inquiry skills gained at school have stood me in good stead. I have been fortunate to have many opportunities, thanks to the wonderful start that Merchant Taylors’ gave me.

Concordia Winter 2024

“My research activities then followed two main threads: the urban environment and Malaysian rainforest hydrology”

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Rusong Wang (second from left) and Ian with colleagues at a conference in Huaibei, China, in 2008

Happy times: Ian in the rainforest at Danum Valley in 1995

Sometimes our findings led to changes in the logging regulations. We were able to see how extreme storms could produce huge transfers of sediment, as with tropical cyclones in Queensland. Climate change makes major storms more frequent, with the severity of channel siltation and flooding continuing to increase. My 1983 book, The Urban Environment , and my work on urban geomorphology led to my joining the UK Urban Ecology Forum and the Scientific Committee of Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) of what is now the International Council for Science. The UK Urban Ecology Forum encouraged best practice in urban nature reserves and brought a few academics into collaboration with environmental consultants, wildlife trust officers and representatives of

Scholar in the SEPR spotlight: Ian Douglas

Ian Douglas

Socio-Ecological Practice Research

ISSN 2524-5279

Socio Ecol Pract Res DOI 10.1007/s42532-020-00051-6

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