| Prof. David Lindenmayer |
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David Lindenmayer is Research Professor in the Australian National University’s Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies. |
A prolific writer, he has published 18 books and more than 450 scientific articles. His most recent book is “Landscape Change and Fragmentation”.
David has been awarded many scholarships, prizes and awards. In 2003 The Bulletin awarded him “Australia’s Top Innovative Thinker in Environmental Science” and last year he was awarded the 2006 Whitely Award for the textbook “Practical Conservation Biology”. Also in 2006 he gained the prestigious “Banksia DaimlerChrysler Australian Environmental Research Award”.
The extent of his expertise is revealed by his current research programmes which include the effectiveness of landscape restoration and biodiversity, integrated wildlife management and timber production, endangered species conservation and management and extinction-risk assessment, plantation design for biodiversity conservation, applied wildlife and many other forestry, wildlife, ecology and management projects.
David will speak around the theme “Production, biodiversity and ecological sustainability. Where have we got to? Where must we go?”
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Dr Peter Hay |
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Dr Peter Hay is Reader in Geography and Environmental Politics at the University of Tasmania. He has written extensively on environmental
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thought, environmental politics and place, and place attachment. He has worked as a political advisor at both state and federal levels and whilst working as the Senior Private Secretary to the Minister for Environment and Planning in the Government of Michael Field, he played a major role in local government reform and in the construction of the current land-use planning regime and State of the Environment reporting in Tasmania. He was the founding President of the Ecopolitics Association of Australasia and is a well-credentialled poet and essayist. His most recent books are ‘Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought’, ‘Vandiemonian Essays’ and ‘Silently on the Tide’.
Peter will provide an outline from an academic perspective of some of the practical, philosophical and political elements in the history of evolving attitudes towards the natural world. The history is one of change – from a determination to tame nature to a realisation that the beneficial relationship between humanity and nature is one requiring a steward’s care, diligence, and mindful respect. He will present his thoughts by way of setting out the purposeful context within which we meet as we search for ways to balance biodiversity conservation and sustainable production. |
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| Severn Cullis-Suzuki |
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Growing up in British Columbia in a home where the rigours of science and the rich-ness of English Literature were daily fare, Severn by age |
nine had experienced the natural world and the society and values of Canada’s First Nation people in some depth. These unique experiences convinced her of the potential and need for creative thinking and activity for change.
After witnessing the Amazon rainforest, and its destruction, at age nine she founded ECO (the Environmental Children’s Organisation) and three years later addressed a plenary session at the Rio Earth Summit – a now well known speech that many delegates found powerful and moving in its call for care of the planet for future generations.
Severn, with fellow students at Yale where she gained her BSc, formed The Skyfish Project and developed the Recognition of Responsibility which, as a member of Kofi Annan’s Special Advisory Panel for the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development she took to the Johannesburg meeting in 2002.
Now fifteen years on from Rio and five from Johannesburg, Severn is studying for her Masters in Ethnobotany at University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her paper to our conference “Finding Opportunity in the Challenge” brings our theme into the context of the world’s younger generations – their expectations of us and of themselves.
How, we may ask, can we think, work, act and converse without considering dimensions of “intergenerational equity”. After all Gro Brundtland’s report (“Our Common Future”), twenty years back, in defining sustainable development urged us not to compromise “the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
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Professor Ted Lefroy |
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Ted is Director of University of Tasmania’s Centre for Environment. He has thirty years experience in rural extension and research in Australia
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and overseas, having worked for departments of primary industries in Queensland, Papua New Guinea and Western Australia and the CSIRO. He has also been a member of the CRC for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture and the CRC for Plant-Based Management of Dryland Salinity where he was leader of the biodiversity program. He is a member of the Conference Planning Committee and chairs the Review Panel for case studies.
His research interests are in perennial farming systems, agroforestry and the management of biodiversity in production landscapes. In 2003 he was awarded the GRDC Eureka Prize for research into the environmental sustainability of grain production. Ted will lead the group of rapporteurs who will help the conference delegates to reach conclusions and edit the conference proceedings for publication. |
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Barney Foran |
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Barney Foran is a Visiting Fellow at the Fenner School for Environment and Society at the Australian National University. |
He has degrees in agriculture and ecology and most recently developed and led a futures group in CSIRO in the period 1993 to 2005. This group published major ‘futures’ reports on human population, fisheries, land and water, energy and greenhouse, and environmental accounting. Prior to 1993 he was a rangeland scientist in central and northern Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa. His current work seeks to design physically feasible solutions for the Australian economy that meet greenhouse targets, achieve energy independence and resilience, while maintaining reasonable rates of economic growth and infrastructure refurbishment.
Within the context of our theme Barney is well equipped to help us examine issues that bear on our future well-being – population and environment, economic drivers and philosophy, accounting beyond the triple bottom line…. Barney may lead us into, and hopefully through, some minefields. At least we’ll know they are there.
Barney’s provisional title for his paper is, “Multiple Contexts of Sustainable Production in the Real World: What are the connections – Biodiversity, Population, Production and Conservation”.
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Conference dinner speakers |
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Dr Peter Ellyard & Hannah Ellyard
Dr Peter Ellyard and Hannah Ellyard will examine the future in a novel way around the theme “What we prefer for your future” – serious stuff it may be but with a light and personal touch no doubt. Both have abiding interests and skills in areas of Natural Resource Management.
Dr Peter Ellyard is well known for his insights into preferred futures. A former Executive Director for the Australian Commission for the Future, Senior Adviser to the United Nations, he was Special Adviser to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
Adjunct Professor of Inter-generational Strategies at University of Queensland, his work is in both the School of Management and the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management.
He is committed to environmental innovation, ecological sustainability and the creation of a sustainable society.His book “Ideas for the New Millenium” (1998) was a best seller.
Hannah Ellyard’s background is in the biological sciences with a Masters in Ecological Management. Her understanding of the integration of environmental management and community development equips her to consider futures purposefully, especially in respect of rural areas, educational needs and the development of sustainability indices. |
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