The Environment Institute

New Paper: Climate change, variability and conservation impacts in Australia

The Environment Institute — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:52:02 +0000

A new paper written by Environment Institute members Thomas Prowse and Barry Brook has recently been published in the Journal Pacific Conservation Biology.

Thomas Prowse

The paper is titled ‘Climate change, variability and conservation impacts in Australia’ and talks about why Australian conservation scientists, managers and decision makers must come to grips with anthropogenic climate change, imposed upon an already variable regional climate system and what must be done to ensure the best chance of building adaptable ecosystems and preserving ecosystem services.

Read and dowload the paper to find out more.

Be a guest blogger on the Environment Institute Blog

The Environment Institute — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:30:16 +0000

The Environment Institute encourages our researchers to get involved. Last year we encouraged our members to share their research with the World, through contributing as a guest blogger on the Environment Institute Blog. This initiative will continue in 2012 and we are looking for postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and academic staff to tell us about their research and let us share this exciting work with the public and the scientific community.

We have put together an information sheet explaining what is required to make writing the post as simple as possible.

If you are interested in being involved or would like more information email environment@adelaide.edu.au. Examples of past guest posts can be found on our blog.

We can’t wait to share all of the exciting research that the Environment Institute members are working on!

World Heritage listing Study

The Environment Institute — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:40:20 +0000

Environment Institute member Randy Stringer is part of a working group that is studying the economic benefits of World Heritage status for the McLaren Vale region.

Professor Randy Stringer

The study will investigate expected tourism and jobs growth from UNESCO World Heritage listing and will also explore growth in other regions which would be heritage listed in the same bid.

The results of this $20 000 commissioned study are expected in March.

Find out More

Read the discussion paper

Fostering Sustainable Behaviour: Introductory Workshop Adelaide

The Environment Institute — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:01:53 +0000

Bicycle Network Victoria are hosting a workshop by Dr Doug McKenzie-Mohr on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th March in Adelaide.

This introductory community-based social marketing workshop will be of interest to those working to promote waste reduction, water and energy efficiency, modal transportation changes, watershed protection, and other sustainable behaviour changes. Those who work to promote behavioural changes that promote health, such as active lifestyles, will also benefit from attending. The workshop will:

Teach you how to identify the barriers holding your program back
Provide you with behaviour change tools
Show you how to pilot and evaluate your program to make it successful!

Dr McKenzie-Mohr

Dr. McKenzie‐Mohr is an environmental psychologist, who has been incorporating scientific knowledge of behaviour change into the design and delivery of community programs for over 20 years. He is the founder of community‐based social marketing ‐‐ an approach to delivering environmental behavioural change programs that is used worldwide. He has provided training internationally for over 50,000 environmental program planners. Find out more about Dr McKenzie-Mohr

Download the pdf Flyer for more information and for details on how to register.

Visit the Bicycle Network Victoria website to find out more.

New Paper: Robust estimates of extinction time in the geological record

The Environment Institute — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:13:17 +0000

A new paper written by Environment Institute members Corey Bradshaw, Alan Cooper and Barry Brook, as well as C.S.M Turney from the University of New South Wales, has recently been published in the Journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

The paper is titled ‘Robust estimates of extinction time in the geological record’ and reports on the development of a new, robust method of inference which accounts for potential biases and uncertainties in estimates of extinction time, and tests it against known simulated data and dated Pleistocene fossil remains (mammoths, horses and Neanderthals).

Read and dowload the paper to find out more.

EI Members win 2011 Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Award – Environmental Sustainability

The Environment Institute — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:48:53 +0000

The 2011 Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Award for Environmental Sustainability was recently given to Environment Institute members Ken Clarke, Megan Lewis and Bertram Ostendorf, together with Anna Dutkiewicz and Giles Forward of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for their satellite remote sensing tool for monitoring soil erosion risk. This international peer-recognition is in addition to recent State recognition with the Environmental Sustainability South Australian Spatial Excellence Award for the same project.

This ARC Linkage Project was the culmination of more than eight years of fruitful collaboration with DENR. From inception and pilot through to a tool ready for operational use, this collaboration has greatly benefited both partners. The Landscape Science group looks forward to continuing this relationship with DENR.

Once again, State and international industry recognition highlight that the University of Adelaide Landscape Science group is capable of producing outstanding practical applications of remote sensing tailored to industry needs. In conjunction with an already strong academic performance, this places the University of Adelaide Landscape Science group as the top spatial sciences group in Australia.

Career Opportunity: Nature Foundation SA -Conservation Projects Officer

The Environment Institute — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:20:54 +0000

Nature Foundation SA are looking for a full time Conservation Projects Officer to be based in Adelaide.

Nature Foundation SA celebrated 30 years of achievement in 2011 as the state’s premier, not-for-profit conservation organisation working with scientists, communities, businesses and governments to conserve South Australia’s precious natural biodiversity. The Foundation now owns or co-owns four conservation properties exceeding 420,000 ha and will undertake major new land conservation and environmental watering projects in 2012.

Download the PDF Flyer to read about the position

Farewell from Mike Young

The Environment Institute — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:30:14 +0000

Three years I took on the challenge of setting up the Environment Institute. Over the years that I have been doing this, I have missed the opportunity to do the policy research that I love. A new opportunity to pursue this research agenda has emerged and I have decided to seize it.

Early in the New Year, I will be moving to the Faculty of Professions to start, as one would predict, with some research on water. This will soon spread out to include climate change, biodiversity and other environmental policy issues. My academic focus will be on what economists call public choice theory. I lay terms this means about the search for guidelines about the best way to make transformational decisions that affect the future of human kind.

In this new role, I hope also to bring together some of the University’s social and humanity science research capacity and make it easier for these people to interact with people in the Environment Institute. I also plan to spend time helping to nurture some of the marine, biodiversity corridor and carbon initiatives that Simon Divecha and I have been developing.

The search for a new Director will start in the New Year. In the interim, Bob Hill will act as the Institute’s Director. I will be spending the last part of January in Europe attending two water management meetings.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for the tremendous contributions that they have made. Collectively, we can be proud of what has been achieved.

International Recognition for Professor Barry Brook

The Environment Institute — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:48:39 +0000

The Environment Institute would like to congratulate Professor Barry Brook, Director of Climate Science, who has received recognition from two prominent international bodies.

Barry has become the first Australian appointed to the international selection committee of the $1.2 million Global Energy Prize. The prize is known as the “Nobel Prize of Energy” and is the most prestigious international award granted for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of energy that have benefited the human race.

Professor Brook has also been made a 2012 Senior Fellow at the California-based think tank, The Breakthrough Institute. The Institute is dedicated to “modernizing liberal thought for the 21st Century” and creating “secure, free, prosperous, and fulfilling lives on an ecologically vibrant planet”.

Both appointments are in recognition of Barry’s work on energy policy. He holds strong views on the use of nuclear energy and alternative energy systems from an economic, environmental and scientific point of view.

Read the full Media Release

Read Barry’s Blog Brave New Climate

Congratulations Barry!

New Paper: Amphibian and butterfly diversity across a tropical land-use gradient in Sri Lanka; implications for conservation decision making

The Environment Institute — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:24:54 +0000

A new paper written by Environment Institute member Thomas Wanger, as well as E.P Kudavidanage, from the National University of Singapore and Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, C. de Alwis and S. Sanjeewa from the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and S.W Kotagama from the University of Colombo, has recently been published in the Journal Animal Conservation.

The paper is titled ‘Amphibian and butterfly diversity across a tropical land-use gradient in Sri Lanka; implications for conservation decision making’ and nvestigated differences in the diversity and community composition of amphibians and butterflies in primary and selectively logged forests (SLF), home gardens and plantations in the Sinharaja lowland tropical forest and surrounding areas.

Read and dowload the paper to find out more.