Michael Edward Meadows FAAS FRSSAf (born 25 July 1955 in Liverpool) is a British-South African Emeritus Professor of physical geography at the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Cape Town.

Michael Edward Meadows was born on 25 July 1955 in Liverpool, UK.

[8][9] He has been the president of the International Geographical Union since 2021[10][5] and served before as Secretaries-General and Treasurer from 2010.

[11] Meadows research focuses on physical geography,[12] namely geomorphological and biogeographical effects of both natural and human-caused climate change,[13][14] as well as Quaternary environmental change,[15][16][17] land degradation and desertification,[18][19] and Palaeoecology.

[20][21] He has used a variety of proxies, including pollen, diatoms, biomarkers, stable isotope geochemistry, sedimentology, and evidence from lakes, wetlands, and, more atypically, accumulations of faecal and urine material deposited by Hyrax capensis, in his reconstructions of past southern African environments.