DURHAM, N.C. – The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has awarded the 2006 Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences to , Doris 51 Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at 51.

The award, which carries a $150,000 cash prize, is one of six Heineken Prizes presented biennially by the Royal Netherlands Academy.  Heineken Prizes are awarded in history; medicine; biochemistry and biophysics; environmental sciences; cognitive science; and art.  They are among the most prestigious international awards presented in these fields.

Pimm and his fellow 2006 honorees will receive their awards at a special ceremony on Sept. 28 in Amsterdam.

In selecting Pimm for this year’s environmental sciences prize, the awards jury cited his “worldwide reputation” for conducting “influential” research on species extinction and conservation, and for tirelessly working to educate policymakers, the media and members of the public about the urgent need to conserve tropical rainforests and other threatened ecosystems.

“It was Stuart Pimm who introduced the concept of the ‘food chain’ into research on the extinction of plant and animal species in the early 1980s,” the Heineken committee noted.  “Pimm’s analyses have proved to be highly inspiring for other researchers.  He has worked energetically for many years to impart his research results to the general public and policymakers.  He has succeeded in communicating the importance of ecological conservation to a wide audience.”

Pimm is widely cited for his research on biodiversity, species extinction and habitat loss in Africa, South America and Central America, as well as the Everglades. His work has contributed to new practices and policy for species preservation and habitat restoration in many of the world’s most threatened ecosystems.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Society for Conservation Biology’s Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award earlier this year.  He received a Pew Scholarship for Conservation and the Environment in 1993 and an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship in 1999. The Institute of Scientific Information recognized him in 2002 as one of the world’s most highly cited scientists. 

The Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences was established in 1990.  Past laureates include Paul Ehrlich, president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University; Simon A. Levin, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University; and James Lovelock, honorary visiting fellow at Oxford University.