Faculty of Science and Technology
Deakin University
The Sustainable Natural Resources Management Research Priority Area (RPA) was established in 1999. Its is:
"to develop a nationally significant research centre focusing on the sustainable use of natural resources."
Staff from the Faculties of Science and Technology and Arts aim to work in partnership with industry and government agencies to achieve core objectives of the 1992 National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development. The RPA members are committed to using their research expertise to “make a difference” in the way we utilise land and water resources so that their ecosystems are protected for future generations.
The team is managed by Associate Professor John Sherwood and its members have national and international reputations for research areas associated with sustainability issues. The group encompasses collaboration across areas of integrated catchment management, resource management, environmental engineering and conservation biology and ecology. Emphasis is placed on "catchment to coast" linkages, as it is essential to have a holistic system-based approach to land and water management because of their close ecological inter-relationships and the centrality of catchments to sustainable water resources management.
Catchment condition determines the quality of our water supply, food, fibre and timber production, conservation of habitats and biological diversity, and quality of social and cultural amenity values including tourism and recreation. Finding ecologically sustainable solutions to natural resource management problems requires expertise, research and development in the biophysical, environmental, economic and social sciences. Complex problems demand coordinated responses and the RPA works in partnership with government, industry and the research community to create innovative strategies to achieve better natural resource management outcomes.
Research applications in the RPA are diverse and include:
