Dr Brown's researches solutions to the environmental crisis facing ocean ecosystems. His work has had impacts at the global policy scale and local management scale. He has worked on global climate impacts to the oceans, including contributing to an IPCC Assessment Report. At a regional scale, his work has informed the monitoring of Pacific Tuna fisheries, 'catchment-to-coast' management on Pacific Islands the management of coastal habitats. He uses advances in statistics to synthesize ecological data and inform environmental decision making. His latest project, the Global Wetlands Program, brings together an international team to map the status of coastal wetland habitats and provide a blueprint for their conservation.