Peter Bridgewater was chief scientist of the UK Nature Conservancy Council 1989–1990, from 1990 – 1997, he was CEO of the Australian Nature Conservation Agency, including the role of Director of National Parks and Wildlife. The Agency included a range of activities and international conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Between 1997 – 1999 he was Chief Science Adviser to Environment Australia and Supervising Scientist of the Alligator Rivers Region, and then four years as Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences in UNESCO. He was secretary of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme and Director of its Division of Ecological Sciences from 1999 – 2003. In 2003 he became Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention until 2007, when he became Chair of the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee, serving two terms until 2014. He chaired Landcare ACT from 2016 – 2019, and the National Landcare Network from 2017 – 2019.
He holds Honorary posts at The Australian National University, University of Canberra, Beijing Forestry University and the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University, and is currently Chair of Wildlife Health Australia.