Member of the Order of Canada
- Awarded on: November 19, 2015
- Invested on: September 23, 2016
For his efforts to promote conservation and for his work as a writer and scholar.
Filmmaker, photographer, scholar, explorer and author of critical acclaim, Wade Davis has made important contributions to our understanding of Indigenous peoples and their relationship with the natural world. Trained as an anthropologist and ethnobotanist, he spent much of his early career as a plant explorer searching for new medicines. Later, as explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, he became a leading voice celebrating the wonder of culture and the rights of Indigenous peoples worldwide, through his distinct ability to convey complex information in a straightforward and inspirational manner. Now a professor at the University of British Columbia, he remains committed to conservation as the B.C. Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk.