BIOGRAPHY
James McCarthy
Born Dundee, Scotland 1936. Educated Harris Academy, Dundee. Married with 3 children.
Silver Medallist, Outward Bound Sea Training School, Burghead, Morayshire 1951
Military Service: Royal Marines, commissioned Black Watch, seconded King’s African Rifles (Mau Mau Campaign, Kenya 1955-6).
B.Sc (Forestry) Aberdeen University 1959
First European post graduate Leverhulme Scholarship 1959-61 to Makerere College, Kampala, Uganda (subsequently University of East Africa) investigating ecology of swamp forests around Lake Victoria. (3 published papers)
1961 Appointed Assistant Conservator of Forests, Tanganyika – primarily involved in forest exploration in Kilombero Valley (Selous Game and Forest Reserve)
1962 Lecturer in forest ecology, Forestry Training School, Arusha, Tanzania
1963 Nature Conservancy Council, latterly Deputy Director (Scotland) 15 years till retirement in 1991.
1971 British Council Cultural/Scientific Exchange, Czechoslovakia
1975 Churchill Fellowship (Coastal Conservation, USA)
1989/90 Nuffield/Leverhulme Travelling Fellowship (Public Support for Conservation in USA/Canada) including commission to assess Bold Coast, Maine, for U.S. National Park Service.
1991 Vice-Chairman, Environmental Educational Council for Scotland, responsible for initial drafting of report Learning for Life to Scottish Executive.
1991 Established natural heritage consultancy & education service, including e.g. first interpretive centre for Skaftafjell National Park, Iceland; training for staff of Scottish Natural Heritage in conservation; Natural Heritage Policy Guidelines on Designated Conservation Areas for Scottish Office Environment Department etc.
Currently Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Zoological Society; Fellow Contemporary Scotland; past Council Member Royal Scottish Geographical Society; alternate chairman, Britain-Tanzania Society – Scottish Branch; Research Associate Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh; Member International Institute of Geopoetics & Council Member of Scottish Branch; Formerly Board Member, Scottish Natural Heritage; Forestry Commission Regional Advisory Committee, etc.
Indulgences
In recent years I have enjoyed, with a small backpack, annual walkabouts (on foot, bicycle, train) in remoter rural areas in Spain, Provence, Morocco, Cuba, Mexico, and Corsica, to discover different environments and cultures. My journey in 2008 will be to follow in Capt. Basil Hall’s 19th C footsteps in Sicily, including his ascent of Mt. Etna.
