Annual Lecture 2008

Who should pay for reversing environmental decline in the Victorian countryside?

Victoria is the most cleared state in Australia, with the majority of land cleared for agriculture. How can we put habitat back into fragmented rural landscapes for native birds and animals? How might we transform agricultural enterprises to make them more environmentally sustainable? All three of this year’s speakers hail from the land and will bring their perspective and experience to bear on where the investment might come from to reverse decline and which landscapes most urgently require special attention.

• Andrew Campbell has been at the cutting edge of natural resource management in Australia for over 20 years. He was instrumental in the development of Landcare and was CEO of Land & Water Australia for seven years. He is the Managing Director of Triple Helix Consulting Pty Ltd, a consultancy firm specialising in the business of sustainability; a Fellow of the Australian Institute for Company Directors; and a director of the CRC for Future Farm Industries. His family has been farming in western Victoria since the 1860s.

• Christine Forster has a background in water resources management, with a particular interest in natural resources management R&D. She is a Director of VicSuper Pty Ltd, a member of the Victorian Catchment Management Council and the Victorian Water Trust Advisory Council. She and her husband Peter have been woolgrowers in western Victoria for many years and have been investing in landscape change.

• Robert Richardson is a fifth generation farmer from Lurg, near Benalla in NE Victoria where he is engaged in beef cattle production, farm forestry and landscape renovation. Rob has a Bachelor of Economics from La Trobe University, a Certificate in Management from Marcus Oldham College and a Master Tree Grower Certificate from the University of Melbourne. He is a past President of the Molyullah Tatong Tree & Land Protection Group; a past Director of the Farm Forestry NE Cooperative; and is President of the Regent Honeyeater Project.