Morgan Williams (ecologist)

{{short description|New Zealand ecologist and agricultural scientist}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2019}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Morgan Williams

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|QSO|size=100%}}

| image = Morgan Williams QSO (cropped).jpg

| caption = Williams in 2020

| order = 2nd

| office = Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

| term_start = 1997

| term_end = March 2007

| primeminister =

| predecessor = Helen Hughes

| successor = Jan Wright

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|03|25|df=y}}

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| relations = Morgan Williams (grandfather)

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| module = {{Infobox scientist |embed = yes

| alma_mater = University of Bath

| fields = Ecology

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| thesis_title = The ecology and behaviour of rattus species in relation to the yield of Coconuts and cocoa in Fiji

| thesis_url = https://bath-ac-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1fg2g9q/44BAT_ALMA_DS2129301060002761

| thesis_year = 1974

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}}

}}

John Morgan Williams {{post-nominals|country=NZL|QSO|size=85%}} (born 25 March 1943){{cite web|title=Morgan Williams |url=https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2082309&id=1166980228&saved#!/profile.php?id=1520397623 |via=Facebook|access-date=23 January 2011 }} is a New Zealand ecologist and agricultural scientist who served as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment from 1997 to March 2007.

Educated at Rangiora High School,{{cite web | url=http://www.geog.canterbury.ac.nz/news/archive/oct-jan04.pdf | title=University of Canterbury Department of Geography: Archive: October 2003 - January 2004 | access-date=29 October 2016}} Williams obtained a MSc from the University of Canterbury, studying biology and ecology, and then studied at the University of Bath where he completed a PhD in population ecology. He worked in Antarctica and Fiji before returning to New Zealand where he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in research, management and policy for 21 years. In January 1996, he joined Agriculture New Zealand Limited, a Wrightson Group company, and the following year he was appointed New Zealand's second Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.{{cite web|title=Conference 2003 Greening the City: Bringing Biodiversity Back into the Urban Environment|url=http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/BiographyMorganWilliams.htm |publisher=Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture |access-date=23 January 2011 }}

Williams joined the board of WWF-New Zealand in 2009 and was elected chair in 2012, serving in that role until May 2019.{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/honours/lists/ny2020-qso |title=New Year Honours 2020 – citations for Companions of the Queen's Service Order |date=13 December 2019 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=24 January 2022}}

In the 2020 New Year Honours, Williams was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order, for services to the State and the environment.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2020 | title=New Year honours list 2020 |date=31 December 2019 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=31 December 2019}}