John Morgan Williams (born 25 March 1943) is a New Zealand ecologist and

agricultural scientist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

who served as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment from 1997 to March 2007. Educated at Rangiora High School, Williams obtained a MSc from the University of Canterbury, studying

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and ecology, and then studied at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

where he completed a PhD in

population ecology Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration. The discipline is import ...

. He worked in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

and Fiji before returning to New Zealand where he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in research, management and policy for 21 years. In January 1996, he joined Agriculture New Zealand Limited, a Wrightson Group company, and the following year he was appointed New Zealand's second Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Williams joined the board of WWF-New Zealand in 2009 and was elected chair in 2012, serving in that role until May 2019. In the 2020 New Year Honours, Williams was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

, for services to the State and the environment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Morgan Living people Alumni of the University of Bath New Zealand ecologists University of Canterbury alumni 1943 births People educated at Rangiora High School Officers of the Parliament of New Zealand Companions of the Queen's Service Order New Zealand public servants