First Minister’s Environmental Council

Overview

The main purpose of the First Minister’s Environment Council is to advise the government on international best practice and keep us at the forefront of tackling the climate emergency and ecological decline.

The council will be co-chaired by the First Minister and Professor Sir Ian Boyd, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. They will meet to discuss a range of environmental issues, such as biodiversity, marine resources, waste, and the nature-based aspects of climate change and the Just Transition.

Members

• Professor Sir Ian L Boyd FRSB FRSE FRS (Co-Chair), University of St Andrews, President-elect of the Royal Society of Biology
• Professor Ian Bateman OBE, US-NAS, FBA, FRSA, FRSB, Director of Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute, University of Exeter Business School
• Gordon Buchanan MBE, award-winning wildlife camera-man and presenter
• Professor Sandra Diaz, National University of Cordoba, Argentina
• Susan Davies FRSB, Chief Executive, Scottish Seabird Centre
• Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder and Chair of Trustees Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Professor Yadvinder Malhi, CBE FRS, Professor of Ecosystem, University of Oxford and a Jackson Senior Research fellow at Oriel College, Oxford
• Dr Ece Özdemiroğlu, founding director of eftec (economics for the environment consultancy)
• Dr Dilys Roe, Principal Researcher and Team Leader (Biodiversity) and Chair, IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
• Professor Pete Smith FRS, FRSE, FNA, FEurASc, FI Soil Sci., FRSB, Professor of Soils and Global Change, University of Aberdeen   
• Toby Park, Head of Energy and Sustainability at the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)
• Professor Jo House, Professor in Environmental Science and Policy, University of Bristol
• Dr Leslie Mabon, Lecturer in Environmental Systems, Open University (Associate member)
• Professor Peter Haugan, Professor of Oceanography, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, and Programme Director at Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway

Publications