Dr Mark Everard

• Qualifications:PhD, BSc(Hons 1), MConv, FLS, CEnv, CSci, FIEnvSc
• Position:Associate Professor of Ecosystem Services
• Department:FET - Geography and Environmental Management
• Telephone:+44117 965 6261
• Email:Mark.Everard@uwe.ac.uk

About me

I am Associate Professor of Ecosystem Services at UWE, and have been on a fractional post since 2013.  Ecosystems, systems thinking and ecosystem services have been my passionate interest and commitments for the past few decades, with water and its ecosystem-based management (along with a strong interest in fish) special areas of application.  My UWE work is concurrent with consultancy for sustainable development, working across a range of intergovernmental, NGO and business sectors the learning from which is reflected in my UWE-affiliated publications, research-based teaching and media presence.  I have also worked in policy-making and policy-influencing situations, and am a communicator with many written and wider media contributions.

Since securing my PhD in 1983, I have had an interesting journey variously through academia, as a Director and also Trustee and Advisor roles in NGOs (voluntary sector), some time in business and also advising business as a consultant, and 22 years in the public sector (National Rivers Authority, Environment Agency, Defra) as well as a government advisor overseas.

As an early advocate and researcher in sustainable development and systems/ecosystems thinking, my journey has not only traversed all societal sectors as well as in every one of the five major continents – particularly in South Asia and Africa as well as Europe – but also business sectors as natural resource development, environmental protection, and industries including plastics/chemicals, water services, construction and aviation.

I have been a co-originator and co-author of strategies and tools adopted at intergovernmental level, as well as working as an international government advisor and also policy development and influence closer to home.

This has also left me with an extensive publication record – peer-reviewed, technical magazine, books, blogs, etc. – and I am frequently contacted for my views by broadcast media and not infrequently recorded for public broadcast.

My motivation to influence the world onto a more sustainable pathway extends beyond academic outputs, policy advice and tools development into public communication including a wide range of books and other publications aimed at non-technical audience, an example of which is my book 'The Ecology of Everyday Things' in two printed editions and converted to an audiobook and also reprinted in Korean.

Water, including aquatic ecosystems and their ecosystem services underpinning a sustainable future and sustainable livelihoods, is an abiding passion, and I have a strong interest in fish too as an academic, angler, author and media spokesperson.

Area of expertise

I am known as a systems and ecosystem scientist, particularly as a long-term proponent of sustainable development including (since the 1980s) the development of not only the theory but also the applied practice of ecosystem services.  Amongst my many publications on the topic of ecosystem services are many peer-reviewed papers, reports to various government and business audience influencing and shaping practical applications and two Versions (2017 and updated 2022) of a global state-of-the-art book for Routledge 'Ecosystem Services: Key Issues'.

I also have a strong track record of interest, research, advocacy and applied advice influencing practice internationally in the field of water management and also wetlands.  I have served on the STRP (Science and Technical Review Panel) of the intergovernmental Ramsar Commission (on wetlands of international importance), co-authoring Guidance Notes and other material guiding the work of the 169 national Ramsar signatories. I am co-originator of the RAWES (Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services) approach, adopted internationally as a standard method, also co-writing the Resolution adopted by Ramsar at the 2018 CoP as well as two RAWES guides and many papers applying the approach in practice.

My expertise extends to writing – many scientific, technical and book outputs – as well as media communication with many TV and radio contributions addressing diverse audiences from expert to wider publics.

Publications

Publications loading...