Professor Thomas E Lovejoy

George Mason University

Thomas E. Lovejoy is University Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University. He also holds the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment based in Washington, DC, and was President of the Heinz Center from 2002-2008. Prior to this, Lovejoy was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Spanning the political spectrum, Lovejoy has served on science and environmental councils under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In 1980 he produced the first projection of global extinctions for the Global 2000 Report to the President. Lovejoy also developed the now ubiquitous “debt-for-nature” swap programs and led the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project. He has received the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, was co-winner (with William Laurance) of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category, and was recognized by the Blue Planet Prize. Lovejoy holds B.S. and Ph.D (biology) degrees from Yale University.