Iain Orr is the founder of BioDiplomacy. He worked in the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) from 1968-2002, mostly dealing with China (including being Consul-General in Shanghai, 1987-1990). He negotiated Environment Charters with the UK's Overseas Territories (OTs) and managed an FCO fund (£500,000 per year) for environmental work in the OTs. His email is biodiplomacy@yahoo.co.uk.

Iain is a founder partner of the Global Islands Network (GIN) and a consultant to the World Land Trust. He was an Executive Producer of a multi-media resource pack on the UK's OTs – A Breath of Fresh Air – which was Highly Commended by the Geographical Association (2002). He is working on a Dictionary of Environmental Quotations and has extensive collections on many environmental and island themes. He is looking for collaborators for an ambitious Cosmopolitan London project, linked to the 2012 Olympics.

Recent articles

I map, therefore I am: Iain Orr finds delight in Katharine Harmon's charting of the imagination.

A former British ambassador's account of the British government's complicity with human-rights abuses in Uzbekistan illuminates the misguided diplomacy behind the "war on terror", writes Iain Orr.

Britain's treatment of the inhabitants of a small island territory in the Indian Ocean is a political, legal and national disgrace that must be redressed, says former diplomat Iain Orr.