James McCarthy, former IPCC Working Group II Co-Chair, has been awarded this year’s Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement together with Paul Falkowski. James McCarthy and Paul Falkowski have been given the Prize “…for their decades of leadership in understanding – and communicating – the impacts of climate change” according to a press release from the University of Southern California who administer the Prize.
The Tyler Prize was established in 1973 by the late John and Alice Tyler to recognize individuals who have contributed in an outstanding manner to the scientific knowledge and public leadership to preserve and enhance the environment.
“Dr McCarthy’s pioneering research on marine nutrient cycles added significantly to our understanding of human activity on Earth’s climate. But scientific research cannot be of greatest benefit to human kind, unless it leads to improved policy. It was this that convinced Dr McCarthy to engage with some of the world’s best environmental researchers and international policy leaders, to assess the global impacts of climate change,” states the press release.
At the IPCC, James McCarthy led Working Group II together with his Argentinian counterpart Osvaldo Canziani, and prepared Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, the Working Group II contribution to the Third Assessment Report. He was also a Lead Author on the Fourth Assessment Report among his other IPCC roles.
He is currently the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvard University.
The Tyler Prize will be officially presented at a ceremony in Washington D.C., USA, on 3 May 2018.
For more information visit: www.tylerprize.org.