He is dedicated to sustainable development and ensuring people know the environmental impacts of their activities and what they can do to ensure good quality of life for their grandchildren’s children. His particular expertise in hydrology and erosion has seen him undertake consultancies with the Mekong River Commission and the UK Natural Environment Research Council where he was Science Co-ordinator of the Lowland Catchment Research Programme.  He has lectured on natural hazards at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and on Urban Ecology (including climate change impacts) at the Beijing Normal University. He has a foreign expert for the Taiwan National Climate Change Adaptation Programme and for the Transport and Environment Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission.  His book “Cities: an environmental history” was published in 2013 and his textbook “Urban Ecology: an introduction”, co-authored with Philip James was published in October 2014.

Ian is also a regular contributor to the CHEC website:

• CHEC’s Ian Douglas Speaks at University of Waikato COP26 Event

• World Environment Day – Thoughts by Ian Douglas

• An Interview with Ian Douglas, Trustee and former Chairman

Select Publications

Douglas, I. (2022)  Water and the rainforest in Malaysian Borneo: Hydrological research at the Danum Valley Field Studies Center (Ecological Studies 242), Cham, CH: Springer Nature, 978-3-030-91544-5.pdf (springer.com)

Douglas, I., Flies, E. J., Lim, J.N.W., eds. (2022). Urban Ecology and Human Health. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-83250-612-7 (e-book)

Douglas, I., Anderson, P.M.L., Goode, D., Houck, M.C., Maddox, D., Nagendra, H. Tan, P.K. (eds)  (2021) The Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology (Second Edition), London: Routledge.

Ian Douglas, Mark Champion, Joy Clancy, David Haley, Marcelo Lopes de Souza, Kerry Morrison, Alan Scott, Richard Scott, Miriam Stark, Joanne Tippett, Piotr Tryjanowski, and Tim Webb (2020) The COVID-19 pandemic: local to global implications as perceived by urban ecologists, Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 2 (3); 217-222.

McDonald, R. I., I. Douglas, C. Revenga, R. Hale, N. Grimm, J. Grönwall, B. Fekete (2011). “Global Urban Growth and the Geography of Water Availability, Quality, and Delivery”, Ambio, 40, 437–44

(2009). “Climate change, flooding and food security in south Asia”, Food Security, 1, 127-136.

Douglas, I., A. Kurshid, M. Maghenda, Y. McDonnell, L. McLean and J. Campbell. (2008) “Unjust waters: climate change, flooding and the urban poor in Africa”,  Environment and Urbanization, 20 (1) , 187-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956247808089156

Scott, M.J, A.G. Aguilar, I. Douglas, P.R. Epstein, D. Liverman, G.M. Mailu, E. Shove, A.F. Dlugolecki, K. Hanaki, Y.J. Huang, C.H.D. Magadza, J.G.J. Olivier, J. Parikh, T.H.R. Peries, J. Skea, and M. Yoshino. (1995). “Human Settlements in a Changing Climate: Impacts and Adaptation”, in R.T. Watson, M.C. Zinyowera, and R.H. Moss (eds) Climate Change 1995: Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses, Contribution of Working Group II to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press: New York, 399-426.