Sir Martin Holdgate, CB PhD FIBiol

Sir Martin Holdgate graduated in zoology and botany from Cambridge University in 1952 and after completing his PhD in insect physiology three years later, began a period of research on the ecology and biogeography of Antarctic and Subantarctic regions.

Between 1955 and 1964 he divided his time between teaching in the Universities of Manchester,Durham and Cambridge and field studies in the Tristan da Cunha islands, the southernmost parts of Chile, and the maritime Antarctic regions.

He was Chief Biologist of the British Antarctic Survey between 1961 and 1966. He retains interest in exploration, and was for many years Chairman of the British Schools Exploring Society.

After four years as Deputy Director (Research) of the Nature Conservancy, Sir Martin entered Central Government as the first Director of the Central Unit on Environmental Pollution, and between 1970 and 1988 he served successively as Chief Scientist in the Departments of the Environment and Transport and as Deputy Secretary (Environment Protection) in DOE. During that period he led numerous UK delegations to international environmental meetings, and served as the President of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme in 1983-84.

He left the Civil Service in 1988 to become Director General of IUCN - The World Conservation Union, which has its headquarters near Geneva and is the world's largest association of Governmental and Non-Governmental organizations concerned witht he conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Sir Marin retired from IUCN in April 1994 and was knighted in June that year. Among other post-retirement activities, he has been Chairman of the Government's Energy Advisory Panel, Co-Chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, Member of the UN Task Force on Environment and Human Settlements and a Trustee of the UK National Heritage Memorial Fund/Heritage Lottery Fund.

He has been President of the Zoological Society of London since 1994, and is also Chairman of the International Institute for Environment and Development and a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.