Obituary: Rodney Walker, environmental champion who taught Chileans the value of caring for nature

Rodney Walker had intended to live his remaining years in the west of Ireland

Lorna Siggins

Rodney Walker, who has died aged 84 in Chile, was an early environmentalist who championed outdoor education within the school curriculum. He pioneered the idea that fragile regions would not survive if ordinary citizens, and not just well-heeled adventure tourists, did not have an opportunity to experience them.

Better known as Rod, he was recognised as an international “changemaker” when he was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 1997, and shared family links with Ireland where he had planned to spend his last years.