Dr. Randolph (“Randy’) Thaman is Emeritus Professor of Pacific Islands Biogeography at The University of the South Pacific (USP and has long championed the need for building synergies between indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and modern, scientific knowledge (MSK) as the basis for sound community-based biodiversity assessments, conservation and management. Joining USP in 1974, at retirement, he was the longest-serving staff member, co-founder of the environmental science and studies degree programme and the only member of USP to have has conducted research and co-published (with his students and local PI co-authors) on biodiversity and indigenous knowledge issues in all 12 USP member countries. He was awarded a personal chair as Professor of Pacific Island Biogeography in 1992; invested as a Member of the Order of Fiji (MF) for service to Fiji by the Chancellor of the Order of Fiji, his Excellency, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara in 1997; made an Honorary Member of IUCN at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, Jeju, Korea in 2012; and was a co-recipient of the Inaugural Pacific Islands Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013 for his environmental leadership in motivating students to understand the interconnectedness of nature and human life. He has also been a keen sportsman, and was recognized as the 1996 (FASANOC) Coach of the Year after his Fiji national men’s basketball team won the Oceania Basketball Championship.