Sessions

Sameer Deshpande (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Associate Professor and Acting Director of Social Marketing @ Griffith at Griffith University, Australia. Sameer also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Social Marketing Quarterly. Prior to joining Griffith University, Sameer worked at the University of Lethbridge, Canada and National University of Singapore. Sameer conducts research in social marketing. In that regard, he has published and presented in over 100 peer reviewed publications, book chapters, and leading international conferences. Sameer co-authored with Nancy Lee in 2013, Social Marketing in India. Over 20 years, Sameer has also trained, taught, advised, and consulted with students, government, corporate, and non-profit organizations in Canada, U.S., Australia, India, and Singapore.

Golo is a Key Biodiversity Area Program Leader for BirdLife Australia. His passion for conservation started at the tender age of 13 watching rare birds in his native Black Forest in Germany where he also worked in one of the country’s largest freshwater nature reserves. He moved to Australia to gain his PhD from The Australian National University on the enigmatic Pheasant Coucal in 2006. Golo is an Adjunct Research Fellow at James Cook University in Cairns and has published over 40 peer reviewed papers, book chapters and popular articles. Since 2016 he has built up BirdLife Australia’s Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Program to be one of the most advanced in the global KBA partnership. The program combines community action with robust science to change the national and global approach to area conservation. When Golo does not work to protect birds he sleeps, compiling a dream list of 329 birds.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• United Nations recognised Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) - a chance and challenge for private land conservation

Penelope Figgis serves on the international committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), as Vice Chair Oceania a position she has held since 2005.       

 

Penelope has had a long conservation career in the NGO, academic and government sectors. She was Vice President of the Australian Conservation Foundation for seventeen years and has served on the boards of many national and state statutory authorities, as well as contributing to conservation though extensive public speaking, writing and lecturing.

 

Her core areas of expertise are biodiversity and protected area policy, World Heritage, conservation on private lands and nature based tourism.   

 

As Director of the Australian Committee for IUCN (ACIUCN) from 2011-2014 she revitalised the organisation, established secure finances, created a major symposium series and generated three books and other publications in the lead up to the 2014 IUCN World Protected Areas Congress in Sydney.

 

For her lifetime dedication and achievements in conservation she has been twice awarded Australian Honours, becoming a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994 and Officer of the Order of Australia in 2006

James is Director of Conservation (Australia Program) with The Nature Conservancy where he oversees the conservation planning, science and policy functions for that program. Previous he worked in conservation planning and protected area policy for government and non -government organisations. He is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University where he is involved in a number of cooperative research projects and has published numerous papers on practical conservation planning, protected area and land use policy and legislation and wildlife ecology and has co-edited four books (Innovation for 21stCentury Conservation, Linking Australia’s Landscapes, Valuing Nature, and Big, Bold and Blue: Lessons from Australia’s Marine Protected Areas). He owns a 129 ha conservation covenant in central Victoria.

ABSTRACT TILE

• Emerging new models for large-scale private land conservation in Australia: Gayini Nimmie-Caira and the Great Cumbung Swamp

Tia Stevens is the Assistant Secretary of the Biodiversity Policy and Water Science Branch in the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Energy. Over her 20 years working in the Commonwealth Government Tia has worked in a range of areas across the Agriculture and Environment Portfolios, both domestically and internationally, from fisheries management to food regulation to natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. In more recent years Tia has led national reform of Australia’s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy working across all levels of Government, co-led delivery of the reformed National Landcare Program and led Australia’s engagement in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, including being a regional member on the Conventions Bureau committee. Tia is currently a member of the Executive Committee for the ACIUCN and has a Bachelor of Science degree from Flinders University.

Dave Moore is the General Manager at GreenCollar, Australia's largest environmental markets investor and developer.

He oversees the company work program and strategy, with a particular focus on constructing and developing innovative commercial solutions to address a range of ecosystem services including carbon, water quality and biodiversity. Prior to this he was part of the Legal and Compliance team, helping the company grow under the Carbon Farming Initiative, working on aspects of Australia's climate change law. Dave still makes time to get out into the field where he builds and maintains strong relationships with our stakeholders and gets to see the direct results of GreenCollar’s work in regional communities and the land sector.

He came to GreenCollar in 2012 with 10 years of investment banking experience in Australia and overseas. He holds a Juris Doctor and a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of New South Wales. He is also a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW.

Nerida Bradley is CEO of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA).  She combines broad professional experience with a life-long commitment to making best practice environmental management and future focused decision-making central to business as usual. 

After finishing school and working in media in Hong Kong, Nerida returned to Australia to study and practised as a commercial land, environment and planning lawyer.  After a number of years practising in Sydney, she moved to the Northern Territory and spent nearly a decade as in-house counsel and strategic advisor to various NT government agencies, including Parks and Wildlife and Environment.  She worked on multiple major projects and environmental law reform. 

More recently Nerida spent 3 years as the CEO of Queensland Trust for Nature before becoming ALCA’s inaugural CEO in 2019.  

Brendan Wintle is Professor of Conservation Ecology at the University of Melbourne and Director of Australia’s NESP Threatened Species Recovery Research Hub. He develops quantitative methods to support conservation decision-making and policy. He publishes on monitoring design, cost-efficient conservation spending, population viability analysis, and species occupancy and distribution modelling under environmental change. He harbors a strange obsession with greater gliders, playing round ball football (too old), tigers (AFL variety) and finding native orchids in box ironbark forests.

Russell is an Indigenous Protected Area Coordinator for Apara, Makiri, Punti. He and his family of 7 children have grown up in Kenmore Park and Ernabella.  Since he has lived there, his wife’s grandfathers have asked him to work on the land for them. It is very important to them that he knows how to look after country and making sure that animals and plants are thriving and to protect them from feral species such as camels and buffel grass.  He is very proud to be the coordinator for the area that his grandparent’s once walked across. Apara Makiri Punti is home to endangered species such as tjakura,(lizard) nganamara (malleefowl) and possibly the night parrot.

Cleon is a trainee Ranger who has grown up around Black Hill near Ernabella area with his grandfather Punch Thomson who was instrumental in the establishment of LandRights in the APY.  Cleon works for Apara Makiri Punti Indigenous Protected Area, which holds important Tjukurpa (law) for men. Kenmore Park has been his family’s homelands for many generations. He started working as a Ranger because his grandfather told him it was important to look after culture and the land. He wanted Cleon to look after the sacred sites and make sure they are protected. He wants to be able to teach the next generation about how to look after country properly.

In 2016 I joined the BHP Foundation as its first Environmental Resilience Program Director and have had an amazing few years working with expert organizations to build a portfolio of projects. This program now supports seven Projects that are aiming to change the way conservation at a large scale is achieved, with a big focus on supporting Indigenous peoples and local communities, in locations as diverse as snow-covered boreal forest in Canada, coral reefs, tropical rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon and Australia’s 10 Deserts. Before this, I worked for five years with the BHP Iron Ore team in Environmental Strategy and HSE leadership roles, and for 16 years with the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority. I majored in Zoology in my Bachelor of Science, and hold a post-graduate diploma in environmental impact assessment.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Innovation in Conservation: The BHP Foundation Environmental Resilience Global Signature Program

Andrew is a traditional owner of the Martu native title determination spanning 13.6 million hectares.  The determination includes parts of the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson Deserts, collectively referred to as the Western Desert.

He is the chair of the 10 Deserts Project steering committee and has held positions on the Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa board for the past six years. He has been involved in the development of the highly successful and respected Martu leadership program which targets young men and women.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Empowering People through collaboration and building capacity. Importance of capacity building, good governance and careful collaborations for all organisations to raise the bar and attract the right person- local through to global.

Ariadne is passionate about Indigneous led conservation, and feels confidence in a world that empowers Indigenous communities to build place based economies where people and nature thrive. She has worked for the Kimberley Land Council for over 20 years spending time on country with traditional owners and cultural leaders designing large scale initiatives. Between 2009-2011 Ari led a team that consulted with 14 Native Title groups to register the West Kimberley on the National Heritage List for its outstanding cultural landscape values and from 2013 -2016 the registration of the Indigenous owned North Kimberley savanna fire projects. In recent years Ari’s focus has centred on establishing national and international networks to promote best practice models of Indigenous led conservation. She is a core member of the International Savanna Fire Management Initiative team (ISFMI) that is adapting Australia’s ground-breaking savanna fire carbon method for southern Africa. Ari’s excited to now be working with the BHP Foundation on the Knowledge Network for the Environmental Resilience GSP Projects, with the aim of cross pollinating knowledge and supporting the Projects to succeed.

Henry Tepper is a Boston-based independent environmental consultant and an Instructor in the Sustainability Masters Program at the Harvard University Extension School and the Department of Environmental Studies at Brandeis University. He has a background in large landscape conservation and has played a direct role in the protection of almost one million acres in the US and around the world.

Henry’s jobs have included serving as the President of Mass Audubon, as Chief Conservation Officer and a Partner at Patagonia Sur, LLC and as Vice President of State Programs for the National Audubon Society. He also spent thirteen years at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), where he served first as the State Director in New Hampshire and then the State Director in New York State. At TNC-NYS, Henry led successful efforts to protect more than 300,000 acres of forestland in the Adirondacks and Tug Hill Plateau.

At the Harvard University Extension School and Brandeis University, Henry co-created and co-teaches a course on Land Conservation Practice in the US and Around the World.  This is one of the first applied land conservation courses created and taught in the US. 

Henry helped launch and has worked for more than a decade on a private lands conservation initiative in Chile, whose results include the passage in the Chilean Congress of private lands conservation enabling legislation, the Derecho Real de Conservacion, which is viewed as global breakthrough in making voluntary land protection legally enforceable in countries with Civil legal codes.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tierra Austral Land Trust and the Northeast Wilderness Trust, and as a member of the Steering Committee of the International Land Conservation Network.  Henry holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. and Admission to Doctoral Candidacy from Cornell University. 

As Chief Executive of Trees For Life, Natasha is dedicated to ensuring Trees For Life is here for the long-term as well as delivering high quality programs and services today. Over the past 4 years, she has led the organisation to develop new opportunities and partnerships that widen our appeal and ensure we can meet the challenges of climate change head-on.

Although the future requires new approaches, Natasha is deeply committed to continuing the tradition of TFL as a ‘family’: a great place to work, work with, or volunteer in.

Natasha’s lifelong interest in environmental issues, bushwalking and exploring the landscapes of Australia led her to start her TFL journey as a volunteer grower. Her life journey has included a role as Director of Sustainable Focus, cutting her teeth on complex issues as a political advisor, volunteering overseas and being a mum to two kids.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Connecting new participants to nature conservation
• Keeping it relevant - lessons from Bush For Life about sustaining and renewing a long-term volunteering program

Katie joined Nature Foundation SA in 2016 as Youth Programs Coordinator for the Kids on Country program. With 20 years’ experience working in Aboriginal Community Engagement and Aboriginal youth engagement in programs encompassing health, wellbeing and education, Katie was the perfect person to expand the program into the success story it is today.

Predominantly working with Aboriginal young people from a variety of language groups from urban and remote communities, Katie has been able to broaden the networks and connections with Aboriginal communities.

Katie’s qualifications include:

• Certificate IV in Community Services (Youth Work)
• Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
• Diploma in Narrative Approaches for Aboriginal people, groups and communities

Katie has strong family connections, and is a proud mother of 3 children with Ngarrindjeri and Arrente heritage, coupled with strong connections throughout South Australia including the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Kids on Country - building a deeper connection with Traditional Custodians and their connection to country.

Growing up on the family property 160km north west of Bourke developed my life long passion for animals, plants and the natural environment. I have a specific interest in triple bottom line accounting and believe natural capital will drive our future.

 

I have a very supportive wife Danielle and three spirited children Ruby, Marcus and Samuel. We live on a grazing property west of Condobolin. I work with Greencollar assisting landholders develop Carbon Farming Projects under the Carbon Farming Initiative. I also have a Carbon Farming project that we developed with Greencollar on our family property Dungarvan.

I enjoy helping land managers recognise the value of natural capital. I get great satisfaction from creating land management solutions that build on environmental condition whilst delivering significant co benefits.

Ben is the Regional Manager for the Trust’s Port Phillip and Westernport region (Greater Melbourne), having worked at the organisation for approximately 12 years. Ben has 16 years of experience working in conservation roles including as a flora and fauna consultant, conservation ranger, property manager and ecological contractor. A highly skilled collaborator, Ben has an exceptional professional network that spans public, private and community sectors of the Victorian conservation industry, particularly the Port Philip and Westernport region. Throughout his time at Trust for Nature, Ben has developed insights into the drivers for private land protection and has been published on the role of threatened species conservation in private land protection. He has recently been working to identify methods to integrate Traditional Owner engagement into stewardship and land management.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Protecting Properties, Connecting People

Sarah Eccles is a Wadawurrung woman from Western Victoria and the Aboriginal Partnership Officer at Bush Heritage where she feels she is privileged to play a role in building relationships between staff, Traditional Owners and Aboriginal community members facilitating on country and cultural heritage management trips, the integration of cultural knowledge and practices into the collaborative management of Bush Heritage managed properties. These partnerships provide opportunities for Traditional Owners to access and spend time on their country strengthening community connections and empowering the younger generations in their cultural knowledge and role in looking after country. They are building a greater understanding of Aboriginal knowledge, culture and connection across the broader community . Sarah is passionate about developing partnerships focused on protecting both culture and country, while providing sustainable social and economic benefits for Aboriginal people. She works within her own community, is a board member of Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation and is supporting the development and implementation of their Wadawurrung Healthy Country Plan.

Mr Andreas Glanznig is the CEO of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). CISS is the successor to the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, also led by Mr Glanznig between 2010 and 2017, Australia’s largest integrated invasive animals research and innovation collaboration.

Over its 12-year life, the IA CRC developed a suite of new pest control products including rabbit and carp biocontrol agents, new genetic surveillance techniques, new wild dog, fox and feral pig toxic baits, and strategic knowledge and planning tools to strengthen collaborative regional scale integrated pest management.

Mr Glanznig’s 30-year career has traversed executive science management, policy analysis and advocacy, and strategic communications. Former roles include leading the World Wildlife Fund’s advocacy team on invasive species legislative and policy reform, and an Australian Government policy analyst.

Mr Glanznig has also served as a Director of the Weeds Cooperative Research Centre and the Global Invasive Species Program. He has degrees in Science and Letters, and a Masters of Business Administration

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Invasive species. Innovation and science in their control. What can land managers expect?

Ian Thompson is Australia’s inaugural Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer. He is the primary representative of and advisor to the Australian Government on all matters relating environmental biosecurity risks.

Ian has previously led biosecurity policy and emergency response, plant industry policy, field crop issues, plant health, native title, drought management, water infrastructure and water reform, rural adjustment, rural leadership and rural research issues. Most recently Ian’s responsibility spanned sustainable agriculture policies and programs, fisheries, forestry, agricultural and veterinary chemicals, community and Indigenous engagement and Landcare.

Ian has a Bachelor of Natural Resources degree from the University of New England.

Mike Letnic is a Professor of Conservation Biology and Ecosystem Restoration at the University of New South Wales. Early in his career Mike worked in government wildlife management roles and for 3 years was responsible for the management of crocodiles in the Northern Territory. Mike has broad research interests spanning the ecological role of dingoes, impacts and control of invasive species, rewilding ecosystems and understanding the effects of fire and grazing on ecosystems. A common theme of Mike’s research is conducting applied research to improve on-ground biodiversity outcomes. Mike is currently partnering with private conservation organizations in their efforts to rewild Australian landscapes.

Dr Jody Gunn is Bush Heritage Australia’s Executive Manager for south east Australia. Jody leads a team of ecologists and land managers that oversees 320,000 hectares for conservation across four States. Jody has 20 years’ experience in the conservation sector, spanning environmental research and conservation, strategy, management and education. Jody’s previous roles have included The Jane Goodall Institute in Tanzania, Fauna & Flora International, and Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. While a PhD on human-elephant conflict in east Africa may not seem immediately relevant to her work in Australia, the interactions between humans and their natural environments remains a constant source of curiosity and endeavour. Jody enjoys supporting a team of passionate people achieve conservation and cultural outcomes across Australia.

After nearly 30-years in the conservation realm I am currently coordinating and managing the on-ground implementation and delivery of the Native Vegetation Heritage Agreement Program – working to protect conservation values through covenanting by mutual agreement in partnership with private landowners, the Native Vegetation Council and the Department for Environment and Water. My background paints a picture of the fortunate convergence of personal interest and professional pursuit in the natural environment, with positions in e-NGO’s, State and Federal Government, and private consultancy. My foci have been varied - from volunteering, hands-in-the-dirt habitat restoration, working with landholders to achieve their property management actions, through to flora and fauna surveys, managing grant programs, and threatened species recovery planning and management. I hold a Master of Science in Ecological Management with a focus on habitat selection for Mallee Emu-wren, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Conservation and Park Management.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Proactive Partnerships in Conservation: SA Heritage Agreement Program - 1 million hectares & beyond

Victoria joined Trust for Nature as CEO in 2009, recognising the value of the organisation’s work in protecting the state of Victoria’s vulnerable biodiversity.

Victoria brings legal and management expertise to Trust for Nature, being a solicitor by training, and has practised as a lawyer in the private, not for profit and public sectors in media/communications and consumer complaints law. 

Victoria is a board member of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance (ALCA) and is on the steering committee of the International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) and the Australian Business Biodiversity Initiative (ABBI). 

Victoria is currently a director of the Yarra Valley Water Corporation, Chair of the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Abbotsford Convent Foundation and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

On a personal note Victoria is a co-owner of a covenanted property in the Wedderburn area. 

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Arguments for long term protection of privately owned areas

Leigh has worked in the private land conservation field d for the past 20 years.  Initially working as a Conservation Programs Officer attached to the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association implementing the Protected Areas on Private Land Program in partnership with the Australian and Tasmanian Government. 

Leigh has travelled the private land conservation journey in Tasmania and has been involved with a range of programs aimed at protecting private land.  Employed at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy for the past 12 years, in several roles, initially as a field officer working on protection of karst landscape in the agricultural zone and then as a broker negotiating biodiversity offsets, reserves officer and reserves manager. 

His current role as the TLC Operations Manager includes the management of the 28,000Ha TLC Reserve estate, New Leaf Carbon Project, Revolving Fund, and government relations.  Leigh likes to bring new people into the conservation field, brokering conservation deals is a challenge that provides his drive to continue to promote private land conservation to people from within and outside the industry.

Outside of his work Leigh has a desire to fish for Australian Salmon.

Jason is Manager, National Parks Program in the South Australian Department for Environment and Water. He has over 20 years experience in national park policy and management and has overseen creating over 100 parks, establishing co-management with Traditional Owners, and initiatives such as nominating the Flinders Ranges for World Heritage. He has co-edited a number of books and is on several boards, and in his spare time runs a yoga studio and his property in the Adelaide Hills.

Andi has worked in the conservation field for the past 20 years, with much of this time spent engaged with the Queensland Government’s private land conservation program. Andi has worked on a number of key operational, financial and innovative policy initiatives to support off park conservation in Queensland and most recently was responsible for developing legislation to create a new class of private protected area for Queensland, Special Wildlife Reserves. Andi has recently taken on the role of Principal Policy Officer with the Parks and Forests Policy team of the Queensland Department of Environment and Science and is looking forward to addressing the policy challenges for supporting conservation outcomes on protected areas more broadly. In her spare time, Andi loves to go bushwalking and camping with her family, and do her best to instil a love of nature in her kids.

Kate is Manager of Private Land Conservation Programs with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust of NSW. Kate has led development of programs to implement the NSW Government’s record investment of $350 million over the next five years in private land conservation. These programs include competitive Conservation Tenders and Fixed Price Offers which provide annual conservation management payments to landholders, as well as more traditional voluntary conservation partner programs supported by small grants. Kate has worked within the private land conservation sector since 2005, having a leadership role with the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW that included design and development of covenant programs, revolving funds and policy. Kate has worked with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust since its establishment in 2017.

Cecilia Riebl is Policy Advisor at Trust for Nature (Victoria). She engages at local, state and national levels to achieve better outcomes and incentives for landholders wishing to enter into conservation covenants. She works with farmers and entrepreneurs to explore ways in which covenants can be used not just to protect conservation assets on farming land but to recognise and embed sustainable / regenerative land management practices. She has previously worked in environmental law and policy in the private, government and NGO sector, and has received a Masters in climate change policy from the University of Cambridge.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Farm covenants: finding value in sustainable land management and biodiversity protection on agricultural land

Sarah is responsible for the SEB program which includes development of initiatives to facilitate on-ground offsets, monitoring and review of SEB areas and improved methods of achieving an environmental gain.

 

My current work focuses on working across a range of stakeholders and industry to understand how we can provide better environmental initiatives for achieving regulatory requirements.

 

The Biodiversity Credit Exchange program is the precursor to the establishment of a credit market in South Australia, it is anticipated that this project will be the catalyst that brings third party providers, brokers, landholders and industry together.

 

Sarah is an ecologist with over 20 years’ experience working in marine and terrestrial environments. Her key expertise is in assessing the impact of developments on ecosystems and how we can create better outcomes from adaptive management and monitoring.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• A contemporary policy approach to offsetting vegetation clearance in South Australia

Carl is the founder of LegacyWorks Group. Carl has led innovative community impact initiatives for the past 17 years. His experience spans impact investing, nonprofit leadership, ecological restoration, strategy development, entrepreneurship, investment management and place-based education.

In 2005 Carl co-founded Beartooth Capital, an impact investment firm investing in important ranches around the American West to generate financial returns, conservation results and community benefits. Before Beartooth Capital, Carl was President and CEO of Greenbridges, an impact investment firm focused on agricultural property with high conservation value. Carl also served as Executive Director of the Ogden Nature Center, a land trust and education center in Northern Utah and worked at the Teton Science Schools in Grand Teton National Park.

Carl received a BA in Architectural Studies and a BA in Environmental Studies with Honors from Brown University. He also earned an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University where he was student President of the Public Management Program, the student arm of Stanford’s Center for Social Innovation. Carl chairs the Education Advisory Committee for the Board of Directors of the Teton Science Schools and serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Conservation Finance Network. When not working to build community, Carl loves gardening, working around the yard, traveling and backpacking. Carl lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Carrie Kappel, their son Charlie and daughter Lily, along with a menagerie of chickens, cats, fish and friends.

Kirstin is Manager, Biodiversity Conservation for Natural Resources, Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges. For the preceding 9 years she was the Department for Environment and Water’s Fire Ecologist for the same region and she has a background in threatened fauna management in South Australia and Victoria. Kirstin believes that well planned and carefully executed prescribed burns have a significant role to play in the management of native ecosystems and our collective challenge is to learn how best to use this tool to achieve great ecological outcomes.  In recent years, Kirstin has helped plan and conduct prescribed burns that have helped in the recovery of some of this region’s most threatened flora and fauna.

Anne Jensen has worked on environmental issues through four different careers, in government environmental policy, coordinating Murray River on-ground wetland repair projects with a not-for-profit conservation company, undertaking academic research into environmental water requirements, and as a consultant on environmental projects. Anne is currently involved with Nature Foundation SA advising on-ground projects returning water to Murray Valley sites, using water recovered under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. She is also working on a project preparing an Adaptive Management Template for mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin. She is continuing her connection with Inle Lake in Myanmar, working with a team preparing a database to support sustainable management of the lake.

Anne is a Healthy Rivers Ambassador and a 2017 River Fellow, committed to promoting a healthy, working Murray-Darling Basin for the future. She wants a sound fair Plan which will sustain the Basin for the future, to support healthy river ecosystems which will in turn support all Basin communities.

Mark has been working on a wide range of environmental issues in South Australia and Victoria for the last 20 years, and is a previous recipient of the Jill Hudson Award for Environment Protection in South Australia. Leading Nature Glenelg Trust (NGT) since its launch in January 2012, Mark previously worked in Mount Gambier with the SA Government for 12 years on a wide range of biodiversity conservation programs, where he also developed practical expertise in wetland restoration. He now applies these skills to develop NGT’s wetland restoration programs on public and private land, which has also included the establishment of a small number of private restoration reserves now owned and managed by NGT.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• The story behind the creation of Nature Glenelg Trust's new network of restoration reserves in Victoria and South Australia

James is Director of Conservation (Australia Program) with The Nature Conservancy where he oversees the conservation planning, science and policy functions for that program. Previous he worked in conservation planning and protected area policy for government and non -government organisations. He is an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University where he is involved in a number of cooperative research projects and has published numerous papers on practical conservation planning, protected area and land use policy and legislation and wildlife ecology and has co-edited four books (Innovation for 21stCentury Conservation, Linking Australia’s Landscapes, Valuing Nature, and Big, Bold and Blue: Lessons from Australia’s Marine Protected Areas). He owns a 129 ha conservation covenant in central Victoria.

ABSTRACT TILE

• Emerging new models for large-scale private land conservation in Australia: Gayini Nimmie-Caira and the Great Cumbung Swamp

James is a Conservation Ecologist with over ten years’ experience working in the conservation sector, with government and not-for-profit organisations in Victoria and Tasmania. He is currently the Philanthropy and Engagement Manager at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy; his passion is centred on people and connecting people to the natural world through shared experiences, storytelling and community involvement.

James is a Board member of the quarterly journal Island Magazine, one of Australia’s leading literary magazines, a print-only quarterly of ideas, writing and culture. James is a member of the international steering committee for CoalitionWild, a not-for-profit organization based in the United State of America that galvanizes, connects, and equips the world’s young changemakers to tackle our planet’s greatest conservation and sustainability challenges.

James is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas, one of the six expert Commissions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Commission is the world's premier network of protected area expertise with 3,000 members, spanning 140 countries.  

James is an active contributor to the Young Professionals Network of the Commission and it's Oceania regional focal point. This collective forum brings together professionals associated with protected areas and conservation in diverse capacities from around the world.

ABSTRACT TITLES

• An enduring conservation partnership
• The New Leaf Project - a once in a generation conservation opportunity

Elisa is a National Programs and Science Lead at Greening Australia and is passionate about combining the art of complex restoration with science to ensure her work makes a difference on the ground.

Elisa is proud to work alongside many of Australia’s leading scientists and restoration practioners to integrate best practice science with the practical constraints of restoration.  She is committed to saving the world one tree at a time. 

Prior to working for Greening Australia, Elisa worked as a researcher at Monash and Natal universities and as a consultant across many disciplines, including wetland restoration, pollination ecology, co-evolution of plants and animals, fire recovery and plant dispersal.

Elisa also loves designing with plants and has trained in plant design. She works alongside the talented Greening Australia team to create beautiful and resilient places where people and nature can thrive. 

Blair has been involved in ecological research, management and consultancy across much of Western Australia for over 18 years. As Science and Planning Manager at Greening Australia, Blair leads a wide range of ecological restoration, threatened species, biodiversity and carbon offset and conservation planning projects and contributes to business development, strategy and research direction across Australia’s Great Southern Landscapes. Prior to joining Greening Australia, Blair led an ecological consultancy team in the conduct of biodiversity surveys, threatened species monitoring programmes, environmental impact assessments and biodiversity offsets. Blair’s experience (with CSIRO, AWC and as a PhD student) includes research related to landscape design for avifauna, fire management and predator control, threatened mammal reintroductions and monitoring, reserve optimisation and vegetation mapping. Blair maintains strong links across a range of sectors including academia, government, industry, consultancy and natural resource management.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• The potential of the carbon market to drive ecological restoration of Australia's Great Southern Landscapes

Suzanne has run her own consultancy, Sustainable Business Consultants or SBC, for over 10 years specialising in business sustainability, carbon management, climate change adaptation and responsible investment. She is also Vice President of Nature Foundation SA. Suzanne is a wilderness enthusiast and recently returned from hiking the infamous West Coast Trail in British Colombia, Canada.

By the time you finish reading this sentence, 304 new social media accounts have been created. Louise Kipling, Founder and Managing Director of Social Natives – a team of Social Media and Digital PR Customer Engagement
Specialists based in Adelaide, South Australia, teach brands how to attract these social media account users & turn them into loyal brand advocates.
Prior to founding Social Natives in March 2013, Louise managed media and marketing portfolios for some of Australia’s leading media, public advocacy and event brands, now working to amplify social and environmental issues with a broad range of private and public sector organisations from industries, including Agriculture and Mining.

Louise has a Bachelor of Arts (Communications & Media Management) from the University of South Australia and is optimistic, social media can be a force for environmental change and governance.

Chris is Director of Cleland Wildlife Park (Department for Environment and Water, SA Government) and Adjunct Professor of Biology in the School of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences at UniSA. He is also involved in many other environmental leadership activities focused on conserving wildlife and connecting people with nature. He has an obsessional interest in all animals, especially lizards.

Chris was educated in zoology at the University of Adelaide and the University of New England. Chris has held academic positions at the University of California, Flinders University and the University of Adelaide.

Sarah is currently CEO Nature Play SA , former Commonwealth Games Gold medallist and teacher. Sarah has been leading Nature Play SA since its inception in 2014.The nature play movement in SA has progressed significantly in the last 5 years’ of operation, especially when compared to other states in Australia. Sarah’s role is to lead and advocate for change across all levels of government, the business community, and with any association or group to ensure nature play is on everyone’s agenda.

Originally a farm girl from the sheep and wheat country of Western Australia, and now running beef cattle in the Mary Valley (QLD), Verity was the inaugural CEO of Farmers for Climate Action; Australia’s only agricultural advocacy organisation focused on putting those on the front line of climate change front and centre in creating climate solutions. Under Verity’s leadership. Farmers for Climate Action became a movement of more than 5,000 farmers and 30,000+ supporters across rural and urban Australia. No stranger to advocating for the interests of agriculture, Verity is a former Executive Officer for the Western Australian Farmers Federation and previously worked for Elders Ltd. Verity holds a Master of Arts (Politics) in Sustainability and Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Politics and Global Studies.

Chad Foulkes has worked in deliberative democracy and been at the forefront of community engagement and deliberative practices for over a decade. He is Director of Liminal by Design, a consultancy that works with organisations at times of change for purposeful choices. Our dual specialities are curating deliberative processes and deploying systems approaches. Adept at complexity and decision-making, our projects span the societal issues of our time from global topics of public health and climate change, to local matters of interest to particular communities. We support groups and organisations through liminal spaces toward alternate futures.

Additionally, Chad is a public health and population health expert having worked with World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention, the Australian Institute for Family Studies, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and lead the Geelong chapter of Healthy Together Victoria to much acclaim.

When in South Australia it is the Eyre Peninsula that calls Chad.

Hydrofoiling is his new edge and in the ocean is where you can find him learning, failing and laughing.

http://liminalbydesign.com.au/#home

 

John Kanowski is Chief Science Officer of Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). John has a PhD in rainforest ecology and then conducted research on rainforest restoration. John has worked as an ecologist for AWC for the past 11 years, first in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and then nationally for the last six years.

Natalie Sommerville lives near Spalding in South Australia’s Mid North, is a farmer, grazier, business owner and manager, mother and proud Torres Strait Islander.

Natalie managers their farming business Windjara Ag with her husband Dane and 2 children and together have been farming for 15 years including managing up to 4000 head of sheep and their boradacre dryland cropping and export hay businesses.

Driven by her passion of sustainable agriculture and the environment, Natalie’s focus is on influencing positive change in rural Australia and seeing greater innovation, inclusion of gender and age, and respect for diverse backgrounds. She is passionate about sharing her farming, cultural and social knowledge and experiences to improve outcomes for both current and future generations.

During her spare time Natalie volunteers on many community, industry and government boards including Native Vegetation Council SA, South Australian Grain Producers SA (GPSA) sub-committees and SA Ag Excellence Alliance. She is an advocate for sustainable agriculture and improved environmental landscape function for long-term production and biodiversity.

Natalie has managed the Water For Nature Program for Nature Foundation SA since 2016 seeing it mature into a program with a strong emphasis on science and community. Natalie has built strategic relationships with all levels of government, coordinates operational water delivery issues, and enjoys working closely with community groups. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Management and a Masters in Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development (Society and Environment). Natalie has over 16 years' experience working in natural resources management with experience both nationally and internationally in policy, community engagement, and project management.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Managing risks in the risky field of wetland restoration.
• Silo art to promote nature conservation

The average human is bombarded with thousands of marketing messages daily so it’s vital to make every communication count. As the Marketing + Engagement Manager for Bush Heritage Australia, Nicole leads a team of fundraisers and communicators to collectively raise more than $8 million annually through their Regular Giving and Direct Mail programs.

Having previously spent many years working in the arts for The Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Nicole is passionate about creativity and storytelling to help people understand the importance of conservation.

Nicole lives in West Footscray Melbourne, with her partner, two children and their dog Leroy and her favourite native species is the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.

Carla is a PhD student researcher from the School of Earth and Environmental Science at The University of Queensland. She is interested in how private land conservation instruments like conservation covenants contribute to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services policy targets and objectives.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Role of conservation covenants in influencing forest cover change depends on the scale of analysis, program type, and landholder type

Sarah Ning is an Environmental Water Manager at the Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group, and has been with the group since 2012. She has 15 years’ experience in wetland management and community engagement, and coordinates the delivery of environmental water programs to wetlands in northern Victoria.

Her previous role with the group involved coordination of the on-ground delivery program for the Murray Wetland Carbon Storage project. This 6-year project rehabilitated wetlands on private property in the NSW Local Land Services region to act as biodiverse carbon stores.

Sarah previously worked for North East Catchment Management Authority for 7 years where her major responsibilities included developing and overseeing the implementation of the Regional Wetland Strategy, and engaging with the community on wetlands, their management and environmental flows.

Matthew is a research fellow with the ICON Science research group at RMIT University. His work experience includes prairie and savanna restoration in his home state of Minnesota, forest restoration and community engagement in New York City, and six years of protected area management and primate conservation in West Africa. As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, Matthew graduated with a Fisheries and Wildlife degree and received his Conservation Science MSc from Imperial College of London. Matthew's PhD investigated how to better incorporate human behaviour into biodiversity decision-making.

Since engaging private landowners in prairie management back in Minnesota, Matthew has had an affinity for private land conservation. As a research associate at Imperial College, Matthew evaluated the social dimensions of a private protected area program in the Western Cape of South Africa and he continued this research here in Australia investigating the motivations, challenges and commitment that landowners experience in land stewardship. Matthew's current work is in collaboration with and supported by Trust for Nature, Victoria.

Luke is a Senior Research Manager with GreenCollar - a large environmental markets and project developer working with landholders around Australia to manage close to 3 million hectares of private land across more than 100 projects. Luke’s expertise is in building evidence and learning into projects so that the impact from investment in the environment can be measured and scaled-up. A large focus of Luke’s work is on finding new and better ways to measure and place value on the environment to enable markets to provide incentives and repayment for land restoration.

Dr Adrian Ward is CEO of Accounting for Nature. He has 15 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors in managing businesses and providing advice, capacity building and technical/strategic training, and technology solutions centred on streamlining access to environmental markets, the management of natural capital and corporate sustainability. Previously, he worked with many of Australia’s leading scientists in overseeing the Wentworth Group’s natural capital work, and led several conservation finance initiatives in Australia and internationally, including for the UN in Papua New Guinea, World Bank in Vietnam and EDF in China. Adrian is a former Australian Government carbon auditor who has a Bachelor of Business, Post Graduate Certificate in Energy Economics, and a PhD in Ecological Economics and Finance.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Accounting for Nature - you can't manage or invest in it, if you haven't measured it!

Roewen Wishart CFRE is High Value & Strategy Director at Xponential, which advises not-for-profits on fundraising strategy, big gift campaigns and gift in will programs.  Roewen is regarded as one of Australia’s leading fundraising consultants. His practical approach develops simple yet powerful plans which work, and grow high returns from big gifts and wills.  Her is the creator of Australia’s annual Major Gifts Benchmarking Study.

His clients include medium and large NFP’s in the conservation, health and research, overseas development, and community services sectors.  Recent clients in the conservation sector include Birdlife Australia, Biolinks Alliance, Bush Heritage Australia, Climate Action Network Australia, Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Lord Howe Island Board

He has over 25 years’ experience in fundraising management, with notable firsts in major gift and capital campaigns and gifts in wills. He is a member of the Fundraising Institute of Australia Code Authority (professional self-regulation body).

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Private Philanthropy for Land Conservation - Key Success Factors

Fiona Nixon is Bank Australia’s Head of Strategy and Communications and is a passionate about the role that business needs to play in addressing social and environmental issues. She is responsible for the bank’s engagement and communication with staff and customers as well as its public policy commitments. Fiona also oversees the Bank Australia Impact Fund, through which the bank invests 4% of after tax profits to create positive social and environmental outcomes. Since joining the bank in 2013, Fiona has managed the rebrand to Bank Australia and a range of initiatives designed to build the bank’s responsible banking brand.

Fiona has a background in consulting working with private and public sector and for-purpose clients on communications, social policy development, major events, and community consultation. She has also held senior communications roles in the Victorian State Government and local government in Melbourne.

Fiona has a Bachelor of Arts (Law) from Macquarie University and is currently completing an Executive MBA at RMIT University.

Reflecting on the pathways and partnerships for Private Land Conservation, in particular relating to (EEC) Box Gum Grassy Woodland, with proximity to a range of other land uses.

Having grown up in the Queanbeyan district, and seen landscape changes to land use and pressures on remaining environmental values, I am exploring the broad potentials for intensive conservation on land that has been in the family variously since the 1920s. Inspired by a love of native mammals from a small child, I graduated from Veterinary Science at Sydney Uni, followed by some peripatetic Botanical studies at ANU, and with Greening Australia, and over 10 years working with captive breeding of threatened species. These experiences have led me to the path of setting up a special purpose not for profit conservation Trust, with the primary aim being the long term protection of the natural environment. The current main focus of the Trust is Wandiyali~Environa Wildlife Sanctuary, 400ha in the NSW Southern Tablelands.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• ‘Private Land Conservation - one step at a time’
  Pathways and partnerships for Private Land Conservation, in particular relating to (EEC) Box Gum Grassy Woodland, with proximity to a range of other land uses and community
  groups.

Tim began working in conservation in 1995 for Earth Sanctuaries at Yookamurra Sanctuary, where he had the opportunity to have amazing experiences with some of Australia’s rarest mammals like Numbats, Bilby’s and Burrowing Bettongs and develop public communication skills.

Since 2005 Tim has been working on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia for the Conservation Council of South Australia, a not for profit organisation, assisting landholders to protect the critically endangered ecological community, Fleurieu Peninsula Swamps.

ABSSTRACT TITLE

• Fleurieu Peninsula Swamps: a case study of an NGO led threatened species recovery program

Shae Brennan is a Conservation Officer with Trust for Nature (Victoria). Based in the North East, Shae works with willing landholders to permanently protect native vegetation on private land.

Before commencing work with Trust for Nature, Shae worked with government agencies including the NSW Western Local Land Services and Parks Victoria. This public and private land experience has instilled in Shae the need for permanent protection of private land across the landscape.

Trust for Nature is a not-for-profit private organisation which was established in 1972 under the Victorian Conservation Trust Act (1972). Using market-based mechanisms including conservation covenants and revolving funds, Trust for Nature achieves real and lasting conservation results across Victoria, including permanent land protection.

For more information in relation to Trust for Nature can be found here: www.trustfornature.org.au
 

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Strategic landscape analysis of private land for permanent protection

Michael has over 25 years’ experience in natural resource management. As a professional forester, he worked in Canada, Ireland, CSIRO, Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory and Natural Resources Conservation League. He was Parks Manager at Bayside City Council in Melbourne. After spending two years as a Financial Planner advising clients on forestry investments, he entered the not-for-profit sector at Conservation Volunteers Australia and now heads up the Revegetation team at Greenfleet, managing an estate of over 8,500 ha across Australia and New Zealand.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Climate-ready Revegetation at Nardoo Hills using non-Local Provenance Plants

Garry McDonald has had 40 years’ experience in entomology, sustainable agriculture and NRM. He has a PhD in invertebrate ecology and is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, a Research Volunteer at Bush Heritage Australia, a Senior Consultant at cesar consulting and periodically works with the Goulburn Broken CMA on the “Bogies and Beyond” Climate Change project. Previously, Garry has been a research scientist with the Victorian Department of Agriculture/Primary Industries (DPI), Research Director of the Rutherglen Research Institute and Director of Swinburne University’s National Centre for Sustainability.

ABSTRACT TITLE

• Climate-ready Revegetation at Nardoo Hills using non-Local Provenance Plants

Denis Rose is a Gunditjmara traditional owner from South West Victoria and has had a long involvement in natural and cultural heritage management. He is employed at Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation as a Program Manager and manages the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. 

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south west Victoria includes evidence of one of the world’s largest and oldest aquaculture systems and was recently inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

In the mid 1990s Denis was involved in the establishment of the nationally and internationally recognised Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) program.  This program has now voluntarily dedicated more than 67 million ha of Indigenous owned and managed lands as Protected Areas.  IPAs are recognised as part of the National Reserve System, protecting the nation’s biodiversity for the benefit of all Australians.

From an early age Alex spent time outdoors camping, fishing, boating and bushwalking in the Flinders Ranges. He also loved Sir David Attenborough, collecting Coles coupons from the local supermarket to redeem a series of nature books that he still has. With a love of being outside, studying and working in nature, conservation was a natural progression. Alex has been Nature Foundation SA’s Conservation Programs Manager for 12 years and is working on a PhD exploring key aspects of ecosystem function at Witchelina Nature Reserve.

Paul Elton is the Chief Executive Officer of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, appointed in July 2017.

Paul commenced his career in the private sector and has since had 24 years’ experience working in portfolio and central agency roles with the NSW and Commonwealth governments. In the mid-2000s, Paul was Executive Director, Natural Resources and Economic Development Policy with the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He then spent four years working with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet supporting the COAG Reform Council.

In NSW, Paul has worked across numerous sectors. Throughout his career, Paul has had a significant focus on environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, including climate change policy, and the intersection of environmental policy with policy and programs in areas such as energy, resources, forestry, water management, infrastructure, land use planning and development assessment.

From 2012 to 2017, Paul was Executive Director Policy with the Office of Environment and Heritage. As part of this role, Paul led the development of the land management and biodiversity conservation reforms across government. He was instrumental in designing the role of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, the private land conservation program and the biodiversity offsets scheme.