David Keith is an international leader in conservation science and has authored seminal texts on Australian vegetation. He led the development of biodiversity risk assessment ‘Red List’ methods and a global ecosystem typology which were adopted as global standards by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Keith has led the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Theme, which has had major policy impacts on the protection of threatened ecosystems in Australia and around the world. Scientists and practitioners in environmental management draw extensively on Keith’s research innovations in threatened species conservation, ecosystem dynamics, fire ecology, and vegetation classification and mapping.