Professor Martine Maron & Professor Jamie Pittock will Address the National Press Club of Australia on "Launch of Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists Landmark Report “Blueprint to Repair Australia’s Landscapes".
2023 is now officially the Earth’s hottest year on record.
2024 is nearly half way through the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, yet successive reports show that the condition of Australia’s environment continues to decline.
So just how realistic and affordable is it to reverse this depressing trajectory?
In their Landmark Report “Blueprint to Repair Australia’s Landscapes” to be launched at the National Press Club, The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists say that repairing Australia’s landscapes is not only achievable and affordable, it is in the national interest.
The Group believes that Australians do not have to choose between a healthy environment and a productive economy, and that continuing into the future with degraded landscapes reduces our options to effectively manage climate change or address our biodiversity crisis.
Australia has ambitious goals to reach net zero emissions by 2050, become nature positive and protect and restore 30% of land and water areas by 2030. But these goals need to be matched with programs and resources.
Building on existing actions will be key, but so will better recognition of the value of traditional knowledge to repair Country.
There will also need to be a paradigm shift in the approach to coordination of the repair effort across different environmental assets, and regional, state and national jurisdictions.
This Wentworth Group Blueprint is the first time that an evidence-based and fully costed approach to the actions and investment required has been attempted.
With the first ever global Nature Positive Summit being held in Sydney in October this year, the “Blueprint to Repair Australia’s Landscapes” is an urgent call to action.
The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
The Wentworth Group is an independent group of eminent scientists and professionals, working to secure the long-term health of Australia’s land, water and biodiversity.
It is best known for its work on water policy reform in Australia, including its contributions to the development of the National Water Initiative, the Commonwealth Water Act 2007 and recent amendments to the Act. The Group has also been called on to provide expert policy advice on native vegetation management, carbon and biodiversity policies, and has provided expert input to the development of environmental accounts in Australia. The Group focusses on providing evidence-based, practical solutions to complex environmental challenges which are of significant national interest.
Jamie Pittock
Jamie Pittock is Professor of Geography in the Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University.
Jamie worked for environmental organisations in Australia and internationally from 1989-2007, including as Director of WWF’s Global Freshwater Programme from 2001-2007. Dr Pittock has served on Australian ministerial advisory boards, including for management of native vegetation, water management and Indigenous protected areas. His research from 2007 has focused on better governance of the interlinked issues of water management, energy and food supply, responding to climate change and conserving biological diversity. Jamie directs research programs on irrigated agriculture in Africa, hydropower and food production in Asia, and sustainable water management in the Murray-Darling Basin. In addition to his membership of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Jamie is Chair of the ACT Natural Resources Management Advisory Committee, a board member of WWF Australia and NRM Regions Australia, a member of the Commonwealth Government’s Biodiversity Assessment Expert Reference Group, and President of Friends of Grasslands.
Martine Maron
Martine is Professor of Environmental Management in the School of the Environment at The University of Queensland.
In this role Martine collaborates with a broad network of individuals and organisations including government and non-government bodies to help achieve effective uptake of research findings into policy and environmental management. Her research expertise is in environmental policy and conservation ecology, with a focus on how biodiversity can persist in human-dominated landscapes, and how conflicts and tradeoffs between development and conservation can best be managed. Martine works with and provides advice to governments around Australia and internationally to improve policy and practice in ecological compensation, including in Malaysia, the UK, Mozambique, and Guinea, and to intergovernmental convening bodies including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the IUCN. In addition to her membership of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, Martine is chair of the IUCN's Impact Mitigation and Ecological Compensation Thematic Group, is a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, a Governor of WWF-Australia, and a councillor at the Biodiversity Council.
