Thomas Lovejoy

Description

The pioneering conservation biologist Thomas Lovejoy awakened the world to the threat posed to life on earth by the loss of irreplaceable natural habitat, and has devised ingenious strategies to apply third world debt to the preservation of endangered ecosystems. Dr. Lovejoy's studies of the Amazon rain forest began in the mid-1960s. Over the years he observed the effects of human intrusion on this unique resource, home to countless species of plant and animal life found nowhere else in the world. In 1980 he introduced the term "biological diversity" to express the incalculable value of environments such as the Amazon. He pursued his environmental advocacy as an officer of the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution, and as the creator of Nature, public television's most popular documentary series. In recent years, he has served as biodiversity adviser to the presidents of the World Bank and the United Nations Foundation. He is a University Professor of Environmental Scienc