Adjunct professor Karen Edyvane presents ‘Paradise lost? Meeting the challenges of marine conservation in the Northern Territory’ on Friday 25 August from 1pm to 2pm.
The Northern Territory maritime estate is situated in a region of global marine biodiversity. Despite encompassing some of Australia’s most remote and sparsely populated coastlines, marine biodiversity in this region faces major threats from illegal and unregulated activities in the Arafura-Timor region.
Within the NT, marine biodiversity management needs to urgently focus on establishing sound conservation policies and strategies, build monitoring, reporting and data management systems to underpin marine planning, and assist Indigenous communities in developing regional marine conservation plans.
Within the region, the NT needs to actively engage in building trans-boundary research partnerships and collaborations to tackle major trans-boundary issues. Uncontrolled and unmanaged—and without united efforts with regional neighbours—these issues pose a major threat to some of the NT’s most iconic species, and to the diverse marine ecosystems of the Arafura-Timor seas. Karen’s talk will outline NT Government proposed directions and current progress in these areas.
Karen Edyvane is a marine habitat ecologist with specialist expertise and experience in marine biodiversity/biogeography, marine protected area design and system planning, and marine planning. Her career highlights include the first state of the marine environment report for South Australia; the establishment of South Australia’s first marine park (and Australia’s largest temperate marine park), the Great Australian Bight Marine Park; the first detailed conservation and threat assessment of Tasmania’s giant kelp forests; and the first large-scale systematic survey, mapping and ecological classification of South Australia’s underwater, inshore marine habitats and ecosystems, including the identification of a potential marine parks and reserves.
In both, South Australia and Tasmania, Karen developed the first technical and policy blueprints for the establishment of marine park systems. She has held a wide range of technical, policy and statutory positions in marine biodiversity conservation planning and management in Australia and has undertaken a range of international marine/coastal consultancy work.
Karen’s work have attracted over $2.5 million in external competitive grants (>40 projects) and produced over 80 research and policy publications. Her conservation work (particularly in temperate Australia) have been recognised through several major awards, including the ‘South Australian Unsung Hero of South Australian Science’ and the ‘South Australian Woman in Science’ award and more recently, the Bulletin’s ‘Smart 100’ award in 2003 (as one of Australia’s top 10 environmentalists).
Since gaining her PhD at the University of Adelaide in 1990, Karen has maintained close links with universities through teaching positions and research programs, including the supervision of over 25 postgraduate students. In addition to her position as an adjunct professor (marine conservation) with Charles Darwin University, she is also the principal scientist for the newly established Marine Group of the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts.
This seminar takes place in Room 1, Building 22, Casuarina Campus, Charles Darwin University.
Visit the School for Environmental Research website for more information about this and other SER seminars.