Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100922
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,490.00
Summary
Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved ....Foresight: Anticipatory decision-making in water resource management. Long-term planning is vital to secure Australia’s water resources in the face of environmental disruption. This project aims to contribute to sustainable and equitable water management by examining the efficacy of anticipatory decision-making approaches. Qualitative research will be used to examine how scientific knowledge is used or contested in water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin. Intended outcomes include improved capacities to plan for future change and establishing anticipatory decision-making within Australian natural resource management. This should provide significant benefits based on an integrated approach to science and decision-making that addresses trade-offs between stakeholders to identify shared action pathways.Read moreRead less
Ecologically responsible mining to fuel a green energy transition. An energy transition is key to tackling climate change. However, renewable energy is mineral intensive and boosting its supply may create new mining threats to biodiversity. This project aims to facilitate strategic development of ecologically responsible mining. It expects to reveal where new mines will be needed to meet future energy demand, and create innovative tools to predict and mitigate threats to plants and animals. Expe ....Ecologically responsible mining to fuel a green energy transition. An energy transition is key to tackling climate change. However, renewable energy is mineral intensive and boosting its supply may create new mining threats to biodiversity. This project aims to facilitate strategic development of ecologically responsible mining. It expects to reveal where new mines will be needed to meet future energy demand, and create innovative tools to predict and mitigate threats to plants and animals. Expected outcomes include an improved ability to inform sustainable climate and energy policies, leading to strategic investment decisions, cleaner mineral supply chains and conservation outcomes that capture valuable environmental and social benefits and create a competitive advantage for Australia’s mining sector.Read moreRead less
Life in the Shipping Lane; The Cost of Increasing Disturbance to Whales. This project aims to quantify the increasing risk of ship strike to humpback whales in Moreton Bay, and predict the impact of chronic disturbance to nursing calves. The research builds on pilot findings identifying Moreton Bay as a resting area for migrating humpback whales. Using empirical and modelling approaches, this research responds directly to the Federal Government strategy for mitigating ship strike, which explicit ....Life in the Shipping Lane; The Cost of Increasing Disturbance to Whales. This project aims to quantify the increasing risk of ship strike to humpback whales in Moreton Bay, and predict the impact of chronic disturbance to nursing calves. The research builds on pilot findings identifying Moreton Bay as a resting area for migrating humpback whales. Using empirical and modelling approaches, this research responds directly to the Federal Government strategy for mitigating ship strike, which explicitly flags Moreton Bay as an 'area of concern'. The project has been developed in collaboration with traditional owners and industry, and is expected deliver optimal mitigation measures for the region. Findings further carry implications for similar functional habitats along Australia's humpback whale migratory corridors.Read moreRead less
Delivering Benefits from Nature in a Highly Connected World . This project aims to improve knowledge of the implications of global flows of ecosystem services (the benefits people receive from nature) for achieving sustainable land use by developing novel predictive models and decision tools. The project is significant because it will resolve the complex challenge of assessing land use strategies when land use change has impacts on ecosystem service provision locally and globally. Expected outco ....Delivering Benefits from Nature in a Highly Connected World . This project aims to improve knowledge of the implications of global flows of ecosystem services (the benefits people receive from nature) for achieving sustainable land use by developing novel predictive models and decision tools. The project is significant because it will resolve the complex challenge of assessing land use strategies when land use change has impacts on ecosystem service provision locally and globally. Expected outcomes will be new evidence for the effect of land use change on the global distribution of ecosystem service benefits and how ecosystem services trade-off against each other. This should provide significant benefits by enabling better assessment of land use policy in an increasingly highly connected world.Read moreRead less
Evaluating environment policy that has immediate costs but long-term gains. A fundamental challenge for environmental policies is the different timescales over which ecological and financial costs and benefits occur. For example, whilst revegetation to offset land clearing incurs immediate costs, it can take decades for it to become suitable habitat for wildlife. These long time lags can lead to inefficiencies in spending and poor environmental outcomes. This project aims to develop novel approa ....Evaluating environment policy that has immediate costs but long-term gains. A fundamental challenge for environmental policies is the different timescales over which ecological and financial costs and benefits occur. For example, whilst revegetation to offset land clearing incurs immediate costs, it can take decades for it to become suitable habitat for wildlife. These long time lags can lead to inefficiencies in spending and poor environmental outcomes. This project aims to develop novel approaches for evaluating the future impacts of environmental policies and new methods for improving their design. It is intended that the methods be tested and demonstrated in the policy context of biodiversity offsetting, which is set to play a key role in nature conservation globally.Read moreRead less
Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of th ....Improving the potential of biodiversity offsetting to reconcile development and conservation: will good environmental outcomes counterbalance the bad? Attempts to reduce conflict between development and conservation are increasingly reliant upon environmental offsetting: generating an environmental benefit to compensate for environmental damage elsewhere. However, whether different offset approaches can achieve their goal of ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity is unknown. By building simulations of the long-term biodiversity consequences (both intended and unintended) of current offset approaches, This project aims to test how each approach and associated sources of uncertainty influence the long-term persistence of biodiversity. It will identify limitations of biodiversity offsetting, shed new light on the most effective approaches, and help develop global standards for offsetting biodiversity loss.Read moreRead less
Better oceans, better futures:Indigenous knowledges and oceans governance . This project aims to re-imagine oceans governance by drawing inspiration and guidance from Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies. Using an Indigenous lens, it will explore opportunities for more inclusive approaches to oceans governance and economic development. Current systems privilege and valorise ‘rational’ knowledge and data, marginalising subjective, relational and cultural values. The project outcomes will inc ....Better oceans, better futures:Indigenous knowledges and oceans governance . This project aims to re-imagine oceans governance by drawing inspiration and guidance from Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies. Using an Indigenous lens, it will explore opportunities for more inclusive approaches to oceans governance and economic development. Current systems privilege and valorise ‘rational’ knowledge and data, marginalising subjective, relational and cultural values. The project outcomes will include the identification of opportunities for better consideration of diverse values, knowledges and worldviews in existing governing systems.This will provide significant benefits, including greater agency for civil society, especially Indigenous communities at local, regional, national and international scales.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100684
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Offsetting effects of development on biodiversity and ecosystem services. This project aims to reform biodiversity offsetting policies by integrating ecosystem services—nature’s contribution to human wellbeing. Current offsets tend to focus on achieving biodiversity goals, potentially at the expense of ecosystem services, a significant problem given global development pressures and the costs of eroding ecosystem services. Expected outputs include understanding how offsets affect ecosystem servic ....Offsetting effects of development on biodiversity and ecosystem services. This project aims to reform biodiversity offsetting policies by integrating ecosystem services—nature’s contribution to human wellbeing. Current offsets tend to focus on achieving biodiversity goals, potentially at the expense of ecosystem services, a significant problem given global development pressures and the costs of eroding ecosystem services. Expected outputs include understanding how offsets affect ecosystem services; and quantified costs and benefits of integrating ecosystem services goals. Such innovation could help secure ecosystem services for long-term human wellbeing.Read moreRead less
What's the catch? Social and environmental sustainability of seafood. This project aims to improve the social and environmental sustainability of wild caught seafood globally. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of seafood trade and sustainability using interdisciplinary approaches that account for social sustainability concepts and the displacement of fishing impacts. Expected outcomes include innovative approaches that can improve the traceability and sustainability of s ....What's the catch? Social and environmental sustainability of seafood. This project aims to improve the social and environmental sustainability of wild caught seafood globally. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of seafood trade and sustainability using interdisciplinary approaches that account for social sustainability concepts and the displacement of fishing impacts. Expected outcomes include innovative approaches that can improve the traceability and sustainability of seafood and new international collaborations. This should provide significant benefits to the ocean, by proposing innovative ways for protecting the ocean through improving the sustainability of trade policies, and to the billions of people that depend on a healthy ocean for their health and livelihood. Read moreRead less