Professor Jack D. Ives is the founding editor of Mountain Research and Development. Many MRD readers, and certainly the wider community of mountain specialists, scholars, and development experts, are familiar with Jack Ives's international reputation as an advocate for the world's mountains. His influential career as a renowned teacher, scholar, editor, and public advocate has now been acknowledged with a very high honor—the award of the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. MRD has received the official information printed below in connection with this award. The MRD editorial staff is proud to have been entrusted with continuing the work that Jack began in founding MRD, now in its 26th year of publication. We would like to take this opportunity to offer our heartiest congratulations to MRD's founding editor on the occasion of his receipt of this award!
Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II approved the award of the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to Professor Jack D. Ives for his mountain and arctic research, extensive publishing, teaching, and especially “for his role internationally in establishing the global importance of mountain regions.”
The presentation was made on 5 June 2006, at the RGS headquarters, Kensington Gore, London, by Sir Neil Cossons, OBE, President of the Society.
The RGS annually presents two Royal Medals of equal rank and dating back to 1831. The Founder's Medal (HM King William IV, the Society's founder) was awarded to Professor Derek Gregory of the University of British Columbia.
In making the presentation, Sir Neil referred to Jack's founding and editing of Mountain Research and Development 1981 and the quarterly journal Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 1968. He went on to emphasize his contributions to ensuring the inclusion of Chapter 13 in Agenda 21 during the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit and the UN dedication of 2002 as The International Year of Mountains, also to his coordination, with Bruno Messerli, of the UNU Himalayan research and training mission.
The second edition of Jack's book Himalayan Perceptions: Environmental Change and the Well-being of Mountain Peoples is due for publication in Kathmandu later this summer.
