[Aqualist] Conference of Interest at ANU, 14-15 November, 2013 - Rethinking Environmental Futures in Asia and the Pacific

[Simon Haberle]

Dear all,

For those who will be in Canberra tomorrow and Friday (14-15 November), there is a small conference on Rethinking Environmental Futures in Asia and the Pacific that includes two session related to Quaternary research (see program below). We also have two international visitors both internationally renown researchers in palaeoecology, conservation biology and ecology.

  *   Prof Richard Corlett - Director of Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He will speak on "Understanding past environments in the Asia-Pacific: lessons for biodiversity management"
  *   Prof Mark Bush – Florida Institute of Technology. He will be speaking on "Ecological rollercoasters: a survival guide" covering topics as far ranging as plant migration, resilience (the Galapagos and Central Amazonia), adaptation (human migration across the Pacific), extinction the Pleistocene megafauna (Peruvian Andes).

Please come along (no registration fee).

Cheers, Simon


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Research School of Asia & the Pacific (RSAP) Conference 2013

Rethinking Environmental Futures in Asia and the Pacific

Coombs Lecture Theatre, Fellows Road, Australian National University, 14-15 November
Profound environmental change on a global scale now appears certain, and the emerging effects of the convergence of population growth, economic development, resource scarcity and climate change are being felt across Asia and the Pacific. Anticipating these fluid relationships will require a deep understanding of social and economic change in countries of the region, and the measures adopted to mitigate their impacts will require or cause major social, economic and political changes in themselves. We know little about the ways in which Asian and Pacific societies might react to the sense of danger and to the changes and sacrifices that may be demanded of them. This conference brings together the unique disciplinary diversity and breadth and depth of regional expertise within the College of Asia and the Pacific and a series of experts from around the world to:

  *   Map scholarly consensus on the character of the environmental changes likely to occur in the Asia-Pacific region over the coming decades.
  *   Evaluate the resilience and adaptability of the various social, political, economic and cultural organizing principles shaping Asian and Pacific communities in the face of these changing environmental circumstances.
  *   Examine the multiple dimensions of these crises – including the political and social implications of change, with the impacts of rapid development alongside environmental deterioration working out very differently across time, space and varying scales.
  *   Examine critically the forecasting tools at our disposal. How reliable are our forecasts? How accurate have they been in the past? What do they address and what do they omit?

For further details, please contact the conference organizers, Paul D’Arcy (paul.darcy at anu.edu.au) and Matthew Prebble (matthew.prebble at anu.edu.au).

Thursday 14 November
9.00-9.30am: Welcome to Country by Auntie Matilda House, Elder of the Ngunnawal people & gift exchange
9.30-9.40 am: Welcome to the Australian National University from the Director of the College of Asia and the Pacific and Dean of the Research School of Asia and the Pacific (RSAP), Professor Andrew MacIntyre
9.40-10.30 - Conference Keynote Address
Dr. Sarah Cook, Director of The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, The shifting landscape of social protection in Asia: From crisis response to development in an age of climate change
Abstract
This presentation will examine the changing landscape of social protection in Asia from the 1997 Asian financial crisis which provided an impetus to the expansion of safety nets and social protection to the current post-global financial crisis context. It will focus in particular on a number of key questions of concern in the international debates on social protection as an instrument for addressing poverty and vulnerability in development contexts. Under what circumstances can different instruments for social protection support or contribute to longer term development objectives? What do the new risks associated with development in the 21st century – including those of global environmental and climate change – mean for social policies in development contexts? What are the limitations of current approaches and what innovations are emerging to address them? Drawing on evidence from Asia, as well as experiences globally, this presentation raises issues about new directions in social policies necessary if contemporary global challenges, such as climate change, and their local impacts are to be addressed.
Q & A:

10.30-11.00am; Morning Tea Coombs Lecture Theatre Foyer

11.00-12.20am – Theme 1: Past Environments: Reconstruction of Natural Environments and Lessons for the Future
Organizer: Dr. Matthew Prebble, Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology & Natural History, College of Asia and Pacific, ANU
Keynote Speaker: Professor Richard T. Corlett, Director of Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Understanding past environments in the Asia-Pacific: lessons for biodiversity management
Discussants:
Dr. Philip Piper, ARC Future Fellow, Archaeology & Anthropology, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU
Dr. Julien Louys, ARC DECRA Fellow, Department of Archaeology & Natural History, College of Asia and Pacific, ANU
Q & A:

12.20-1.30pm LUNCH

1.30-3.00pm: Theme 2: Long term Biodiversity and Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific region
Organizer: Professor Simon Haberle, Head of Department of Archaeology & Natural History, College of Asia and Pacific, ANU
Keynote Speaker: Professor Mark Bush, Biological Sciences and Chair of the Conservation Biology and Ecology Group at Florida Institute of Technology, Long term Biodiversity and Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific region: a view from the Americas
Discussants:
Professor Simon Haberle, Head of Department of Archaeology & Natural History, College of Asia and Pacific, ANU
Emeritus Professor Peter Kershaw, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University
Dr. Simon Connor, School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University
Dr. Matthew Prebble, Research Fellow, Department of Archaeology & Natural History, College of Asia and Pacific, ANU
Q & A:

3.00-3.30pm: Afternoon Tea: Coombs Lecture Theatre Foyer

3.30-5.00pm: Theme 3: Fluid Borders & Boundaries
Organizer: Dr. Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Senior Fellow, Resource, Environment and Development Program, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
Keynote Speaker: Professor Gunnel Cederlöf, Professor of History, University of Uppsala, Sweden, Negotiating boundaries in South Asia’s mobile landscapes
Discussants:
Professor Heather Goodall, Social and Political Change, University of Technology, Sydney
Professor Saleem Ali, Director, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, University of Queensland
Q & A:
5.30-6.30pm: Screening of Historical Environmental Images from the ANU’s Pacific Manuscript Bureau (PAMBU) Archive Collection (Menzies Library lawn if fine, Coombs Lecture Theatre if cold or raining)
8.00pm: Dinner for Speakers and Discussants


Friday 15 November

9.00-10.30am: Theme 4: Local Contexts: Indigenous Management of Pacific Protected Areas
Organizer: Associate Professor Paul D’Arcy, Department of Pacific and Asian History, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tamatoa Bambridge, Legal Anthropologist, Centre d'excellence pour étude des récifs coralliens (Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies), Centre de Recherche Insulaires et Observatoire de l'Environnement (CRIOBE), Moorea, Polynésie Française, Integrated Indigenous Management of Land and Marine Protected Areas in Taiarapu (Tahiti, French Polynesia). What lessons for the Pacific?
Discussants:
Toni Bauman, Research Fellow in the Native Title Research Unit, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Dr. Tanira Kingi, Portfolio Leader, Māori Agribusiness, Agresearch, Palmerson North, New Zealand
Profesor Carlos Mondragon, Centro de Estudios de Asia y África (Center for Asian and African Studies), El Colegio de México
Q & A:

10.30-11.00am: Morning tea and Coffee at Coombs Lecture Theatre Foyer

11.00-12.10am: Theme 5: Gender, Climate Change, Population Displacement, and Disaster Responses and Mitigation
Organizer: Dr. Doracie B. Zoleta-Nantes, Co-convener of Master of Natural Hazards and Disasters, Resources, Environment and Development Program, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
Keynote Speakers: Professor Margaret Alston, Head of Social Work Department and Gender, Leadership and Social Sustainability Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Gender and Climate Change in Australia and South Asia. Associate Professor David King, Center for Disaster Studies, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Climate Change Induced Disasters and Migration
Dr. Yan Tan, ARC QE11 Fellow, Geography, Environment and Population, The University of Adelaide, Climate Change and their Impacts on Rural Areas in China
Discussant:
Dr. Doracie B. Zoleta-Nantes, Co-convener of Master of Natural Hazards and Disasters, Resources, Environment and Development Program, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
Q & A:

12.15-1.15pm LUNCH:

1.15-2.45pm: Theme 6: Poverty and Vulnerability in the Era of Climate Change
Organizer: Dr. John McCarthy. Senior Lecturer, Environment and Development Program, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
Keynote Speaker: Professor Anirudh Krishna, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University. One Illness Away: Who Becomes Poor, Who Escapes Poverty, and Why
Discussant:
Dr. Douglas Hill, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, Department of Geography, University of Otago
Q & A:

2.45-3.15pm: Afternoon Tea: Coombs Lecture Theatre Foyer

3.15-4.25pm: Theme 7: Achieving Green Growth in the Asia-Pacific: A Myth or Reality?
Organizer: Professor Kaliappa Kalirajan, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Anbumozhi Venkatachalam, Senior Fellow and Capacity building Specialist, Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo, Green Growth in the Asia Pacific: Achievements, Potentials, and Constraints
Dr. Kanhaiya Singh, Senior Fellow, National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, Green Growth and Surface Water Management: The case of Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in India
Discussant: Professor Raghbendra Jha, Executive Director, Australia South Asia Research Centre, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University
Q & A:

4.30-5.30pm Final Overview Session: Past Lessons and Future Prospects for Sustainable Development
Professor Quentin Grafton, Executive Director, Australian National Institute of Public Policy (ANIPP), UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU, Prospects for Sustainable Development: Challenges & Choices

Brief Reflections by Panel Organizers on key conference themes and promising synergies
5.30-7pm: Informal Drinks, Fellows Garden, University House, ANU
8.00pm: Conference Dinner for Speakers and Discussants