Brian Harrison Walker

Brian Harrison Walker is an Australian scientist specialising in ecological sustainability and resilience in socio-ecological systems.

Books 2006 with David Salt: Resilience thinking: Sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world, Island Press 2012 with David Salt: Resilience practice: Building capacity to absorb disturbance and maintain function, Island Press

His most cited papers include: 1981 with D. Ludwig, C. S. Holling and R Peterman. "Stability of semi-arid savanna grazing systems" Journal of Ecology Vol 69 : 473-498. 1985 with W.T. Knoop "Interactions of woody and herbaceous vegetation in southern African savanna" in Journal of Ecology Vol 73 : 235-253. 1989 with M. Westoby I. Noy-Meir. "Opportunistic management for rangelands not at equilibrium. in Journal of Range Management Vol 42(4) : 266-274. 1992 "Biodiversity and ecological redundancy" Conservation Biology Vol 6: 18-23. 2001 with M. Scheffer, S.R. Carpenter, J. Foley, and C. Folke. "Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems" in Nature Vol 413: 591-596.

Awards In 1999, Walker received the Ecological Society of Australia's Gold Medal for his work on ecology of tropical savannahs and rangelands.

In 2018, Walker has been awarded the Blue Planet Prize for 2018, along with Professor Malin Falkenmark. The award goes to individuals or organizations that make "outstanding achievements in scientific research and in so doing help to solve global environmental problems."

In 2020, Walker was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of The Order of Australia for "distinguished service to science, particularly to ecosystem ecology and research, and to professional scientific bodies."