Territory-based expert to deliver Australian perspective

A Charles Darwin University expert who has played influential roles in natural resource management in Australia for more than 25 years is about to travel to Europe and the US to deliver an Australian perspective on the future of natural resource management.

Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) Director Professor Andrew Campbell has been invited to give a keynote speech at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 28 on the Dynamics of Transformational Environmental Policy Reform.

Professor Campbell will present his paper “Observations from Down Under:  Sustaining Environmental Policy Reform” which will reflect on the characteristics of policy reforms that have survived the past 30 years.

“It will focus on the questions around how we ensure that environmental gains are durable, rather than politically ephemeral,” he said. “I will look at examples ranging from Landcare to COAG Water Reform, to the price on carbon.”

Professor Campbell will also travel to Berlin by invitation to present the opening keynote entitled “The converging insecurities of food, water, energy and climate, and their implications for 21st Century farming systems” at the European Farming Systems Association symposium on April 1. 

“The task of developing sustainable and resilient farming systems that meet societal needs in volatile climates is formidable,” he said. “Rich economies like Europe, North America and Australia should set high-level strategic objectives for our agricultural and natural resource management systems.” 

While overseas Professor Campbell will aim to establish links between RIEL and the Harvard University Center for the Environment. He will also visit the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford and hold meetings to build links between RIEL and Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.

“CDU is an English language university only 12 degrees from the equator, not far from Wallace’s Line and a global epicentre of tropical biodiversity,” he said. “With relatively intact natural landscapes, juxtaposed with the world’s oldest continuing human culture, and with our own active multidisciplinary research agenda, we are a very interesting partner for these elite global institutions in environmental research and education.”