Biography
Roger Crofts has spent his career within the public sector as a research worker, as a Government adviser and administrator, and as the leader of a major public body. He is now an environmental strategy and policy adviser, charity volunteer, writer and speaker working in Scotland, Iceland and around Europe.
Following early years at school in Hinckley, Leicestershire, he attained a geography degree from Liverpool University (BA), gained a Teacher's Certificate from Leicester University (PGCE) and a research degree at Aberdeen University . He undertook geomorphological research at Aberdeen University and at University College London on coastal and mountain systems Scotland , Ireland and Svalbard , and became actively involved in the management of natural resources, especially in rural areas and around the coast.
Roger spent 17 years in The Scottish Office actively involved in advising on the policy and administration of development in rural Scotland, particularly the Highlands and Islands, North Sea oil and gas, and tourism, as well as the financing of local government, and sea fisheries law enforcement. He established prepared the policies and legislative proposals for the natural heritage and the establishment of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
Roger was appointed SNH's first Chief Executive His established a body whose functions were fully integrated, whose staff were professional and produced objective advice and guidance, whose authority was established on the Scottish scene, whose advice is sought and respected, and whose work is known widely throughout Europe. He completed his 10-year contractual term in March 2002.
Since retirement, Roger has been Chairman of the IUCN World Conservation Union UK Committee and Chairman of its World Commission on Protected Areas European Region (now WCPA Emeritus), Plantlife International, a Council and Board member of the National Trust for Scotland and Convenor of its Conservation Committee, and a Board member and Trustee of the Scottish Agricultural College . He is Chairman of the UK Sibthorp Trust, a Board member of Fieldfare International Ecological Development, the Crichton Carbon Centre, and Patron of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers. He was Secretary to the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Inquiries into Energy Issues for Scotland, and The Future of Scotland 's Hills and Islands . He is a PANParks Verifier. He is leading the establishment of Dalry Bird Town in Galloway .
He is co-author/editor of Land of Mountain and Flood: the geology and landforms of Scotland, Scotland's environment the future, Conserving nature: Scotland and the wider world, Scotland: the creation of its natural landscape, and Ecosystems and health: a UK perspective. He has written and lectured extensively on environmental topics
Roger was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year's Honours List 1999 in recognition of his contributions to environmental management. In recognition of his contribution to Scotland and its environment he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 2001, a Fellow of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management in 2008, and awarded Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Science by the University of St Andrews in 2004 and the University of Glasgow in 2013. He has been a Visiting Professor in Environmental Management at the Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research, University of London, and a Visiting Professor in Geography and Environment at the University of Aberdeen and an Honorary Professor in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. In recognition of his environmental advisory and campaigning work in Iceland he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 2014 and the Soil Conservation Medal in 2011.
He is a widower and has 2 grown-up children. He styles himself as action-orientated, pragmatic, realistic, and hopefully creative, plain speaking, arguing for and forcing change. His recreational interests are cooking without a recipe book, restructuring gardens, singing in private, walking in the hills, photographing wild flowers, and helping people to understand the Earth's heritage and environment.
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