Fernando Maestre Gil
Protection of the Environment 2020Sax (Alicante), aged 44. PhD in Biology (University). Director of the Laboratory of Arid Zone Ecology and Global Change, University of Alicante.
Professor Maestre’s research work and his international reputation have established him as a world-leading authority in the study of arid zones and the ecological consequences of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems, thereby contributing to Spanish science’s leadership in key areas for ensuring the sustainability of our planet.
Professor of Ecology on leave of absence, Principal Investigator on 17 research projects and the only ecologist working in Spain to have been awarded both a Starting Grant (2009) and a Consolidator Grant (2014) from the European Research Council. He has published over 240 articles in international scientific journals, six books and more than 60 book chapters and journal articles. He has been ranked amongst the top 1 per cent of most-cited authors worldwide since 2018 (h-index = 70 according to Google Scholar). He has presented over 100 papers at scientific conferences and delivered invited lectures in some fifteen countries, and has supervised 10 doctoral theses.
The jury for the Rei Jaume I Prize for Environmental Protection, meeting in Valencia, has unanimously decided to award the 2020 prize to Mr Fernando Tomás Maestre Gil.
Professor Maestre’s research addresses the growing problem of desertification in the context of global climate change, an issue that requires urgent solutions for Environmental Protection. His pioneering work has contributed to the development of the ‘Arid Zone Development Paradigm’, a new approach to studying desertification, which is influencing not only research but also management and global policy efforts to tackle this phenomenon. For example, this paradigm has been used in official United Nations reports to guide decision-making aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in arid zones across the globe.
