Professor David Goode has nearly 50 years experience as a professional ecologist, working in both central and local government, and an international reputation as a writer on environmental issues ranging from biodiversity conservation to urban sustainability.
Having carried out research for a PhD in peatland ecology he was appointed peatland specialist in the Nature Conservancy in 1967 and became Assistant Chief Scientist in 1976. He carried out a comprehensive review of peatland conservation in the UK as part of the Nature Conservation Review, which led to many newly discovered peatlands being designated as National Nature Reserves or SSSIs. During this period he worked briefly with UNESCO to develop criteria for selecting and establishing Biosphere Nature Reserves. He also chaired a government committee to investigate the causes of lead-poisoning in mute swans, which recommended banning the use of lead weights in angling.
As Senior Ecologist at the Greater London Council (1982-86) and subsequently Director of the London Ecology Unit (1986-2000) he developed a major London-wide programme for biodiversity conservation which became a model for many other towns and cities. This programme was adopted by the Mayor of London in 2002 as the basis for biodiversity conservation in the capital. He was Head of Environment at the Greater London Authority from 2000 to 2004 with responsibility for producing the Mayor's Environmental Strategies, including Waste Management, Air Quality, Biodiversity, Ambient Noise and Energy. During this period he was instrumental in promoting effective policies for sustainable development which formed a crucial element of the Mayor’s statutory London Plan.
He has written extensively on biodiversity conservation, particularly in relation to wetland ecology and the ecology of major cities. As a member of the UK Biodiversity Group in the 1990s he was responsible for developing Local Biodiversity Action Plans, and was a member of the England Biodiversity group from 2004-9, with particular responsibility for towns and cities. In 2006, as Special Advisor to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, he wrote a report on Biodiversity and Green Infrastructure as part of the Commission’s work on the Urban Environment. As well as numerous papers on ecology and conservation he has written two books on the ecology of cities, Wild in London (1986) and a Collins New Naturalist volume Nature in Towns and Cities (2014). He also co-edited Ecology and Design in Landscape (1986) and the Routledge Handbook of Urban Ecology (2011). He is a regular contributor to The Nature of Cities interactive web-site.
