William E. Rees

Pr. William Rees is a human ecologist, ecological economist, Professor and former Director of the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) in Vancouver, Canada. Prof Rees founded the Ecological and Resources Planning component of the School's academic program and, as Director, consolidated its teaching and research mission on the theme of long-term sustainability. Prof Rees' research and teaching focus on planning and policy responses to global ecological change. He is best known as the originator and co-developer of "ecological footprint analysis" - his book on the subject with then PhD student Mathis Wackernagel, has been translated into eight other languages including Chinese. He has also authored more than125 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and numerous popular articles on humanity's (un)sustainability conundrum. Prof Rees is a founding member and past President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics, a founding Director of the OneEarth Initiative (http://oneearthweb.org/) and a member of Global Ecological Integrity Group. The influence of Dr Rees' work is widely recognized and awarded. He has been invited to lecture in 25 countries around the world; the Vancouver Sun named Prof Rees one of British Columbia's top public intellectuals in 2000; in 2006 he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada and in 2007 he was awarded a prestigious Trudeau Foundation Fellowship.