Sir John Hartley Lawton (born 24 September 1943) is a British

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

Vice President, President (former Chair) of the

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a charitable non-governmental organisation, one of the UK's 46 county-based Wildlife Trusts. Its focus is nature conservation and it works to achieve a nature-rich Yorkshire with healthy and resilient ecosystems ...

, President of The Institution of Environmental Sciences, Chairman of

York Museums Trust York Museums Trust (YMT) is the charity responsible for operating some key museums and galleries in York, England. The trust was founded in 2002 to run York's museums on behalf of the City of York Council. It has seen an increase in annual fo ...

and President of the York Ornithological Club. He has previously been a trustee of WWF UK and head of

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

(NERC) and was the last chair of the

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in the United Kingdom was created under Royal Warrant in 1970 to advise the monarch, Government, Parliament and the public on environmental issues. It was closed on 1 April 2011, as part of the Co ...

.Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) website
In October 2011, he was awarded the RSPB Medal.

Early life

As a child, Lawton was a member of the Young Ornithologists' Club, and later helped run the RSPB Members' Group in York. In his youth, he volunteered for the RSPB's Operation Osprey at Loch Garten.

Career

Lawton studied at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, completing a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Zoology followed by a PhD in 1969. He belonged to

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

. Lawton was Demonstrator in Ecology in the Department of Zoology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

from 1968, moving to the Department of Biology, University of York, in 1971. He was awarded a Personal Chair at York in 1985. He founded, and was the first Director of, the NERC Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College,

Silwood Park Silwood Park is the rural campus of Imperial College London, England. It is situated near the village of Sunninghill, near Ascot in Berkshire. Since 1986, there have been major developments on the site with four new college buildings. Adjacen ...

. In 1994, he gave the

Witherby Memorial Lecture The Witherby Memorial Lecture is an academic lectureship awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) annually since 1968. The memorial lecture is in memorandum of Harry Forbes Witherby Harry Forbes Witherby, MBE, FZS, MBOU (7 Octobe ...

on 'Numbers and range in the field and in the mind'. In October 1999, he was appointed the Chief Executive of NERC, retaining an honorary professorship at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Following his retirement from NERC in March 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environment Pollution from 1 April 2005, and was reappointed for a second three-year term in 2008. His interests have focused on the population dynamics and

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

of birds and insects, with emphasis over the last decade on the impacts of global environmental change on wild plants and animals. He was instrumental in establishing The Royal Society for the Protection of Bird's strategy for protecting landscapes. He has made major contributions to environmental NGOs, including a five-year period as Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and a trustee of WWF-UK. He shared the

Japan Prize is awarded to individuals whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind. As of 2024, the Japan Prize h ...

for Science and Technology for Conservation of Biodiversity in 2004 "for observational, experimental and theoretical achievements for the scientific understanding and conservation of Biodiversity". In 2009 he published an official review of the Meteorological Office's

Hadley Centre The Met Office Hadley Centre — named in honour of George Hadley — is one of the United Kingdom's leading centres for the study of scientific issues associated with climate change. It is part of, and based at the headquarters of the Met Off ...

. In 2010 he reported an official review of England's protected areas, published as ''Making Space for Nature''. Lawton has been outspoken on the issue of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and is reported to have said, in the context of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming… If this makes the climate loonies in the States realize we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation.

On 2 November 2019, he appeared on the podcast

Trees A Crowd ''Trees A Crowd'' is a natural history podcast presented by actor David Oakes. Creation and reception of the podcast Oakes, as an environmentalist and an ambassador for the Woodland Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, started ''Trees A Crowd'' as a ...

with

David Oakes Rowan David Oakes (born 14 October 1983) is an English actor and environmentalist. He is best known for his roles in the series ''The Pillars of the Earth (miniseries), The Pillars of the Earth'', ''The Borgias (2011 TV series), The Borgias'', ...

Honours and awards

* President's Gold Medal of the British Ecological Society (1987) *

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1997) *

(2004) *

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

(2005) * Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology (2006) * Foreign Associate, US National Academy of Sciences (2008) * Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008) * RSPB Medal (2011) * CIEEM Medal (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawton, John 1943 births Living people Biologists of the University of York Alumni of University College, Durham British zoologists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British environmental scientists Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Knights Bachelor Natural Environment Research Council People educated at Balshaw's Grammar School Winners of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology Trustees of York Museums Trust Presidents of the British Ecological Society