WA Sate NRM Conference 2008 Keynote Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Conference Theme: "Bridging the Barriers to Better NRM"
Opening Keynote: Ian Kiernan from Clean Up Australia

Ian is the Chairman and Founder of Clean Up Australia (CUA), a community-based not-for-profit organisation that co-ordinates Clean Up Australia Day and the international Clean Up the World campaign run in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Ian started Clean Up Australia Day in 1989 and it has since grown to become the largest community-based participation project in the country.
Ian is Chairman of the Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Waste Management and Pollution Control Ltd and a Director of CVC Reef Ltd..
In recognition of his leadership in the environment and the community both in Australia and internationally, Ian was named 1994 Australian of the Year. He holds the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) on Australia Day 1995.
In 1993, Ian was made a UNEP Global 500 Laureate for his work and leadership in the local and global environment. In 1997 he was inducted as a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow. Ian is a Vice-President of the international organisation ACOPS (Advisory Council on Protection of the Seas). In 1998, Ian was awarded the prestigious United Nations Environment Programme Sasakawa Environment Prize.

Topic 1: Regional Systems & Grassroots NRM
Keynote: Dr Graham Marshall

Graham is a Program Leader with the Institute of Rural Futures, an independent non-profit research centre undertaking applied inter-disciplinary research. His research is concerned with socio-economic issues in collaborative natural resources management (NRM), particularly where cooperation from farmers is important. He is author of Economics for Collaborative Environmental Management: Renegotiating the Commons (Earthscan, 2005). He leads the project 'Nesting community-based NRM for regional accountability and grassroots cooperation' that is funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation until July 2007. Other research foci include: role of social capital in linking smallholders in Bali and Lombok with agribusiness; factors affecting cooperation by irrigators in implementing district-scale NRM plans; economic and social factors affecting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders; transaction and abatement costs of carbon-sink projects; prospects for common property farming in rural Australia; issues in benefit-cost analysis of agricultural research projects; value of seasonal climate forecasts for broadacre farmers; value of agricultural productivity losses from irrigation salinity and waterlogging; institutional economics of integrated catchment management; and economic principles for designing cost-sharing arrangements for conservation activities on agricultural land.

Topic 2: Healthy Land & a Healthy Life
Keynote: Dr Peter Dingle

Dr Peter Dingle is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Environmental Science at Murdoch University in WA. His research has led him to believe that the way we lead our modern lives is preventing us from reaching our full potential. Our health, our work, our environments, our outlook. We live our lives in systems and Dr Dingle believes we've got to take control. And so he has come up with The Dingle DEAL which is his guide to, managing Diet, Environment, Attitude and Lifestyle that will, he believes, not only help you to live longer, but more importantly show you how to maintain your productivity and enjoy life.

Topic 3: Embracing Diversity & Change in NRM
Keynote: Peter Andrews

Made famous for his appearances on Landline & Australian Story, Peter Andrews is "Natural Sequence Farming". Born in 1940 on his parent's sheep property on the Wilcannia Road just out of Broken Hill, Peter has lived his whole life affected by the droughts and floods in the Australian country.
For 20 odd years, he became passionate about finding what caused the environmental problems he could see on his own properties and how to turn them around, using natures own methods. He found the difference in what man has done and in fact is still doing to the Australian country and what has to be done, cannot be understood using the same theories that are currently taught and accepted by scientists. It requires a paradigm shift in thinking. Around 10 years ago, after repeated practical research under various natural conditions, he decided he had proved his theories enough to invite government and university scientists to test them.
Many came and most were amazed with what they saw and experienced. The ones that were able to 'think outside the square' became passionate supporters, whilst those caught in the 'this not what I was taught' syndrome became sceptics. They would come up with scenarios such as, 'it worked there but wouldn't anywhere else', or 'he must be doing something without telling us'. Some of the leading CSIRO scientists as well as several extremely highly acclaimed and respected professors and scientists from both here and overseas have now rallied behind him and work is well underway to use his theories in repairing our erosion, salinity and water problems.
Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman fame, has had Peter totally reconstruct parts of his multi million dollar horse stud property. The results are nothing short of astonishing! The improvements have added so much to the dollar resale value of the property, let alone the productivity and sustainability of its resources.
Today, he continues to fight the bureaucracies holding back his theories and is insistent that one day his theories will help turn the Australian landscape back to what it was before Europeans came here.

Topic 4: Industry, Environment & Climate Change
Keynote: Dr Penny Whetton

Dr Penny Whetton is working to increase understanding of the potential impacts of climate change at the local and regional level in Australia and elsewhere.
Dr Whetton has led the Climate Impacts and Risk research stream at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research since July 2005.
A major component of Dr Whetton's research has been analysing the regional output of enhanced greenhouse general circulation model (GCM) experiments, and using this information to construct regional scenarios of future climate change.
She also works on regional climate change impact assessment. She was the main contributor to, and editor of, the Climate Impact Group's Australian climate change projections released in November 1992, November 1996, and May 2001.
Dr Whetton was a contributor to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and a lead author of the regionalisation and climate scenarios chapters of the Working Group 1 component of the Third Assessment Report of IPCC.
She is currently a lead author of the regional projections chapter of the Working Group 1 component of the Fourth Assessment Report.
The Climate Impact Group was a recipient of the 2003 Eureka Prize for Environmental Research.

Conference Theme: "Bridging the Barriers to Better NRM"
Closing Keynote: Jon Dee Founder & Director of Planet Ark

Jon Dee has spent over twenty years working on cause-related projects.
Jon Dee founded the Planet Ark organisation in association with friend and tennis player Pat Cash back in June 1991.
He set up Planet Ark as a pro-business organisation, as he believes that only business has enough power to save the planet's ability to look after our future generations.
Since its inception, Planet Ark has become a major force for social and environmental change in Australia. Internationally, Jon launched the Planet Ark Internet site back in 1994. With over 20,000 pages of news, it is the largest online environmental news service in the world.
Jon won community service awards in his youth from Lions clubs. For his earthquake relief work, he was awarded the President's Medal by the President of Armenia in a ceremony in Yerevan in 1991. In 1994, Jon also won the national 'Banksia Environmental Award' for his production of Channel 7 and Planet Ark's 'Save the Planet' education commercials.
Jon is a regular commentator on radio and TV. Since 1992, he has produced and directed over 300 TV and radio adverts for Planet Ark, recruiting people like Sir Richard Branson, Kylie Minogue, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Newton-John, Steve Irwin, Dustin Hoffman, Jamie Durie and others to present the ads.