Associated Events
Charles Darwin University Public Lecture Series 2006
9 May - Water, water every where. So what’s the problem?
Eric Valentine, Professor of Civil Engineering, Charles Darwin University
Water is one of our most critical resources. Here in the Top End we will have a secure supply if there are no big surprises, but around Australia and the rest of the world it is under threat.
Often there is too little or too much, or it is in the wrong place. In the past, water resource management has focused almost exclusively on redistributing water to when and where people want it for their use. This is a supply-side (engineering) approach. But there are many signs that water is running out as populations and per capita use grow. We are certainly damaging ecosystems from which it is withdrawn. This means that we may need to apply demand management.
Add the effects of climate change and we may be in trouble!
Speaker to introduced by Kim Wood, General Manager Power and Water.
16 May - Asian Conceptions of Security and Perceptions of Threat
Associate Professor Simon Tay, Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs
Asia has depended on a 'multiplex' of approaches to security in the post WW2 period. An underlying realism has recognized the essential place of the USA as a guarantor of security. Yet Asians also aspire to other conceptions of security that emphasize cooperation among states and a broader comprehensive range of issues. These two approaches are changing in the wake of US policy in the region post 9/11 and with the rise of China. Will the emerging sense of East Asian regionalism lead to new conceptions and approaches to security? What are the perceptions of threat that should most occupy Asians today? What are the possible implications for Asia-Australia relations?
Speaker to introduced by Julia Christensen, ABC Radio.
Book Launch
12 May from 1pm - Southeast Asian Biodiversity in Crisis
Navjot S. Sodhi
National University of Singapore
Barry W. Brook
Charles Darwin University, Australia
The biodiversity of South East Asia is gravely imperilled by drivers including massive habitat modifications, forest fires and the overexploitation of wildlife. This book contains the first comprehensive determination of the current state of South East Asia's terrestrial biotas and highlights the primary drivers responsible for the grave threat to the region's unique and rich biodiversity. The looming South East Asian biodiversity disaster demands tangible actions. However, such will continue to be constrained by socioeconomic variables (e.g. rampant poverty and lack of infrastructure). Any realistic solution should involve a multi-pronged strategy (e.g. political, socioeconomic and scientific), in which all major stakeholders (e.g. people, governments and national and international non-government organisations) must partake.
- The first comprehensive report of the current state the regions biotas
- Highlights the primary reasons responsible for the threat to the region's unique and rich biodiversity
- Suggests concrete actions necessary to mitigate the impending biodiversity crisis in South East Asia
The Northern Territory Research and Innovation Awards 2006
11 May from 7pm to 10pm - Today's ideas solving tomorrow's problems
The NT Research and Innovation Awards recognise the Territory's outstanding thinkers and problem solvers.
The finalists and winners will be announced at the Northern Territory Research and Innovation Award Ceremony and Dinner in Darwin, 11 May 2006 during the Australian Innovation Festival.
Visit the NT Research and Innovation Board and Fund website for further information and to register for the presentation ceremony and dinner.
