Professor Ian Mercer - Chairman of the Inquiry
PROF Ian Mercer CBE has been appointed as the independent chairman for The Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry.
Prof Mercer, 68, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career specialising in rural conservation and environmental issues. He has lived in Devon since 1959, more than half that time in Moretonhampstead.
His career includes some notable "firsts" - in 1990 he was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the Countryside Council of Wales and had the task of combining the then Nature Conservancy Council and the Countryside Commission in the Principality.
In 1995 he moved from there to become the first Secretary General of the Association of National Park Authorities, a position he held until his retirement earlier this year.
In 1996 he was awarded the CBE for "services to the environment in Wales" and he is honorary Professor of Rural Conservation Practice at the University of Wales.
He knows Devon well having been in the early days of his career warden of the Slapton Ley Field Centre and Nature Reserve and later Chief Officer for the Dartmoor National Park Authority.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and a member of the BBC Rural Affairs Advisory Committee.
Commenting on his appointment, Prof Mercer said: "I very much welcome the chance to contribute to the outcome of what has been a devastating crisis in the countryside of Devon. We, as a society, need to know how to avoid a repetition of the outbreak of Foot and Mouth, the way we deal with it and its aftermath.
"That aftermath involves the recovery of rural Devon's social and economic position. Crises often breed opportunities and we need to be able to take advantage of them.
"I have been lucky enough to work closely with farmers all my life and I'm glad of this chance to help them. The interdependence of the rural economy, the countryside, visitors and their hosts, has been revealed to everyone in the last six months as never before. We need now to expose the future for that rich complex."
