Dr David Given

8 November 1943 to 27 November 2005

Obituary by M.J. Parsons

“Ka hinga te tōtara ā te wao nui ā Tāne - The falling of the tōtara tree in the great forest of Tāne” is a Māori proverb often quoted at the tangi (funeral) of a great chief.   It conjures up a powerful image of a great tree falling and leaving a huge, unfilled space in the canopy of the forest.  It was the plants of this world of Tāne that was central to much of David Given’s life and work.

David Given was a member of the Royal Society Biodiversity Committee from 1994 until he died in November 2005.  He was the Chair when he sounded the call to reactivate this committee in 2002, until his illness in 2004.  At a teleconference meeting of the committee on 16 April 2002, one of the priorities David had listed included a call to get the science right, to provide a firm foundation for policy, practice and management.

David was born in Nelson on 8 November 1943. His parents brought him up to love music, nature, sport and fostered these interests by example.  His father was a very able entomologist and geologist and also a violinist as David was. As a child David had time with his family in Australia doing ‘bug work’, learning the Latin names of many.  The family returned to live in Nelson and David went to Nelson College.  In 1962 he went to University of Canterbury in Christchurch where he did an honours degree in botany, followed by his PhD working on Celmisias.  He also had a passion for ferns becoming one of New Zealand leading fern authorities.

In 1973-74, David had a Canadian National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship which took him and his family to Ottawa, to research the outliers of isolated arctic - alpine plants around Lake Superior.  These plants were threatened in their habitat.  It was this experience that sparked his abiding interest in New Zealand’s threatened plants and plant conservation.  On his return to Lincoln he prepared the paper: Conservation of rare and threatened plant taxa in New Zealand: Some principles.  Some six years later he published his first book: Rare and Endangered Plants of New Zealand followed quickly by the NZ Red Data Book, all about endangered species, which is co-authored with Gordon Williams.  His interest in plant conservation never flagged.

David was Herbarium Keeper at DSIR from 1974 to 1987. He was one of the instigators of the New Zealand National Herbarium Network to bring together all the herbaria to focus on a common good.  He set up links with the Australian herbaria which continues today.

David was aware of just how valuable the information on the plant specimen labels was and he began to plan for the revolutionary idea of computerising the labels so that this information and plant distribution maps could be more easily made available.  The computer era was just beginning.   Initially the label data had to be put on to punched cards which were sent to Wellington for reading on to the only DSIR computer in the country; a lengthy and cumbersome process. But he persevered.  Today data is entered into desk top computers at Landcare Research at Lincoln and you can go into the Allan Herbarium (CHR) internet site and look up the label information, and see plant species distribution maps. We can easily take for granted the huge amount of time taken to compile the correct information and can forget the vision that David and his colleagues had all those years ago.

Leaving DSIR in 1991, David’s career changed direction when he began teaching at Lincoln University and doing ecological consulting work, and ecotourism which meant he was often travelling around the world to exciting, exotic places.  In 1994 David had published the book Principles and Practice of Plant Conservation, for the IUCN (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature or the World Conservation Union) and the World Wildlife Fund. In the 1990s David was involved in some 16 different international conservation organisations.

He served on the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Steering Committee and Chaired the Plant Conservation Committee (PCC) from 1997 to 2004. He was also Chair of the Pteridophyte Specialist Group and contributed to other Specialist Groups including Re-introduction, Conservation Breeding and Sustainable Use, as well as making important contributions to the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and World Heritage issues. At the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok in 2004, David was presented with the SSC Sir Peter Scott Award for Conservation Merit in recognition of his leadership of the PCC and unwavering dedication towards raising awareness of, and action for, the conservation of plant species worldwide.
 
And in the words of Dr Janet Smart, Head of the Species Programme of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, based in Switzerland: “David made a huge contribution to the work of the Species Survival Commission, and indeed the whole IUCN.  He was an inspiring and warm hearted chair of the Plant Conservation Sub-Committee whose meetings were always stimulating and enjoyable. He was extremely dedicated.”

For two and a half years David was the Botanical Services Curator of the Christchurch City Council.  He wrote a large part of the draft masterplan, setting a long term vision for Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens in the centre of the city.

At their annual conference on Sunday 14 August 2005, the NZ Plant Conservation Network awarded David a Distinguished Life Membership.  During his acceptance speech he spoke of the special privilege of mentoring younger people in plant conservation and in initiating projects which he knew others would take over from him and see through to completion.

To return to the image of the great tōtara tree falling in the forest.  Whilst it stood, the tree provided shelter and nourishment.  Now it has gone, those seeds and seedlings beneath can flourish, just as David’s visions and dreams for plant conservation can be carried on by those whom he has inspired with his faith, passion and enthusiasm. A man of strong faith, he put his religious convictions to work into improving the world around us. 

And in David’s own words from 2000:
“But while the vision [of plant conservation] is necessarily global, action must be local in the unique social, biological and economic mix of local community based situations.  If we don’t speak for the flowers - who will?   If not now - When?”

Murray J. Parsons.