Stephen M. Turton grew up in Southern Africa and New Zealand and has lived in Australia for 40 years. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1982 (BSc and MSc in geography) and James Cook University in 1992 (PhD in geography and environmental science). He is now retired and an adjunct professor in environmental geography in the Research Division at Central Queensland University. From 2005 to 2016, he held several senior roles as director and professor at James Cook University in Cairns. From 2003 to 2005, he was an associate professor and Director of Research for the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre. From 1984 to 2003, he was a lecturer, senior lecturer and associate professor in geography at James Cook University. He is a Councillor of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, a former Councillor of the Institute of Australian Geographers, a former Councillor of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation and a former member of the Wet Tropics Management Authority’s Scientific Advisory Committee. He is a past president of the Australian Council of Environmental Deans and Directors, past president of the Institute of Australian Geographers and past chair of the National Committee for Geographical Sciences, Australian Academy of Science. He was also an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth and Sixth Assessment Reports, Working Group 2 (Impacts and Adaptation). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers and a recipient of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland’s J.P. Thomson Medal. He has published over 130 scientific reports, book chapters and journal articles in rainforest ecology, environmental geography and climate change adaptation in natural resource management.