From the desk of the Managing Director in June 2009

Dear Friends

Reinventing ourselves

As you might expect the news that our initial rebid had been knocked back came as a blow, but I’m pleased to report we’ve taken it in our stride and are now hard at work on plans for a new research organisation. We are absolutely determined that desert Australia – three quarters of our continent – will not be abandoned in terms of a dedicated research effort.

The DKCRC Board and our partners have thrown their weight behind a concept we have long considered, for a permanent Desert Institute (DI), and this remains our favoured option at this stage. This would have the advantages of greater permanence and perhaps broader and more flexible criteria than under the CRC model. This may be important given the way that science, industry and community are particularly closely interwoven in the deserts.

However, Innovation Minister Kim Carr announced at the CRCA annual conference last week that he had adopted another of Professor Mary O’Kane’s CRC review recommendations: to introduce annual funding rounds for new and rebid CRCs. Round 12 will take place this year, with the closing date in August, so we are also considering our options for a reinvigorated CRC proposal.

Watch this space – and please lend us your support for a new desert research bid!

Why a DI?

... I hear you ask. Well, Peter Gordon at Economic Futures Australia has been doing some brainstorming with us, and these are his thoughts ...

“Australia’s potential can’t be realised without us, as a people, understanding the potential of our deserts, as they are so important to our continent. To work out what this potential is, we need to spend a lot more time thinking, researching and engaging with desert communities and industries – in the past the focus has been too narrow, on specific issues. Instead we need a broad, systematic view of the deserts, how they can benefit us and how we can look after them.

“A very exciting possibility for doing this is to create an institute to focus on just that, one which takes a fresh approach to ideas and research opportunities which are as unique as our deserts themselves.”

Bush pathfinders

The CRCA annual conference, Pathfinders – the Innovators Conference, was a highlight for all who attended. In my spot on the program I chose to tell the inspiring story of bush foods research at DKCRC, explaining the changes it is bringing to the lives, the activities, the culture and communities of the Aboriginal people who take part in it: “For Aboriginal people, caring for country, and passing on knowledge about the relationship between land, people and Law is intrinsically bound with cultural identity. Bush food is a part of that. Understanding that, and what it means, is important. Our work in other areas has shown that economic development initiatives won’t work unless they fit within an Aboriginal worldview of health, wealth and wellbeing.”

This, I feel, is a critical message for all science and research. It isn’t just about the research – to make a difference you have to understand the people who will receive it and what they will get from it. And that in itself requires more research.

Projects like “Information = Power” and “Hands Across the Desert” have been a fundamental part of the DKCRC story. They have helped us to understand what works and what doesn’t. Through our many partners, strong relationships and our connection to the desert we’ve been able to deliver research that is end-user driven and meaningful – that is, applicable at the local scale, but also relevant nationally and internationally.

Two Australias

In questions afterwards someone asked me why Aboriginal communities did not market bush foods on the internet. I was obliged to point out that most Aboriginal communities do not have broadband ...

Carr accolade

Minister Carr had some very kind – and encouraging – words for CRCs in his address. Among other things, he said: “If we want a model of how collaboration can and should work, this is it.

“Over 1230 companies, large and small, were involved in research collaborations through the CRC Program last financial year – with the small outnumbering the large by nearly two to one. CRCs were involved in 448 international alliances and held 465 overseas patents – along with their 201 Australian patents.

“More than 280 postgraduates were awarded degrees – two-thirds of them receiving PhDs, and all of them enriched by their exposure to the real world of industry. This is a terrific achievement, and it is even more impressive when you recall that the CRC Program has been maintaining the same high standard for eighteen brilliant years. That’s why we intend to invest another $682 million in CRCs over the next four years.”

Hot prospects

Chief Scientist Professor Penny Sackett also spoke at the conference. Asked in question time to name an area of science and technology in which she thought Australia had particularly outstanding prospects, she nominated solar energy – pointing out that we have more of this particular resource than any other country in the world. We might add that the bulk of that vast energy resource is concentrated in the deserts.

Camel action

We appear to have scored a significant win in terms of the impact of the DKCRC investigation and report into the impact of feral camels in the deserts. At its May meeting the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council decided “that feral camels are causing significant damage across Australia’s rangelands, which will increase as the camel population increases unless concerted action is taken.” The Council agreed that affected jurisdictions and the Australian Government will prepare an action plan in the next three months to ensure management strategies are coordinated across jurisdictions and in partnership with industry, land and water managers and the community. Well done, Glenn Edwards, Murray McGregor and the camel team!

Beef focus

Beef Expo Our 21st Century Pastoralism team rocked up to Beef Australia 2009 in Rockhampton, Queensland to showcase our work. This 3-yearly event attracts 65 000 participants and over 1000 international delegates. Ruth Brown, Andy Bubb and Tim Driver (pictured) all described how busy the event was and the huge interest in the work of the DKCRC. Visitors to the stand were mainly interested in the Remote Livestock Management System, our research into camels and bush foods. Besides the exhibition stand, DKCRC staff also ran a workshop and seminar on technologies to enhance desert pastoralism.

Run, rabbit, run

Rabbits are devouring Australia again as the impact of biocontrol wears off – and the deserts, with their long generation times for plants and trees, are especially vulnerable. Our colleagues at the Invasive Animals CRC are inviting everyone to take part in an Australia-wide rabbit-spotting exercise to get a handle on the scale of the menace.

RabbitScan is a world-first ‘rabbit census’, using a community-based approach with Google Maps technology to map the presence and density of wild pest rabbits across Australia. It relies on the participation of the community, landholders, groups, schools, industry, business and government – from May 2009 – to take a look in their local area, scan for evidence of rabbits and then to add their sightings to the national map and evidence base. You can log your sightings online at www.rabbitscan.net.au , SMS them to 0421 690 892 or email them to rabbitscan1@gmail.com

Rabbitscan

As you can see, they could do with some more help from the deserts ...

Source: http://www.rabbitscan.net.au/joomla/index.php

DI in the headlines

Our plans for a Desert Institute are very much in the media spotlight – it attracted 52 out of this month’s 80 hits. The next most reported issue was about Prof Bernard Guerin’s findings that some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are missing out on vital services (medical, education, government) as a result of reluctance to visit places where they have experienced discrimination.

Other stories involving DKCRC included Ken Clarke’s work on biodiversity in the rangelands, 21st Century Pastoralism, the Camel Report, Desert Biz, Sustainable Desert Settlements and a story about a House of Representatives standing committee investigating what’s required for small Aboriginal-owned businesses to run effectively.

Recent DKCRC publications

Reports

De Sousa Majer M, Singh Z, De Lima F, Ryder M. 2009. Sustainable Bush Produce Systems: Post-harvest storage of Solanum centrale and impact on produce quality, DKCRC Report 46, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs. [pdf 2.6 Mb]

Measham TG, Brake L (Eds.). 2009. People, communities and economies of the Lake Eyre Basin, DKCRC Research Report 45, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs. [pdf 8.3 Mb]

(and the individual chapters)

Measham TG, Robinson C, Larson S, Richards C, Herr A, Williams L, Brake L, Smith T. 2009. Synthesis of the ‘People, communities and economies of the Lake Eyre Basin’ project. [pdf 1.1 Mb]

Herr A, Smith T and Brake L. 2009. Regional profile of the Lake Eyre Basin catchments. [pdf 2.8 Mb]

Larson S. 2009. An overview of the natural resources management arrangements in the Lake Eyre Basin. [pdf 703.5 kb]

Measham TG, Robinson C, Richards C, Larson S, Stafford Smith M and Smith T. 2009. Tools for successful NRM in the Lake Eyre Basin: achieving effective engagement. [pdf 582.1 kb]

Measham TG, Williams LJ and Larson S. 2009. Sustaining successful engagement: a case study of responding to demographic changes in the Lake Eyre Basin. [pdf 2.1 Mb]

Robinson C, Williams LJ and Lane MB. 2009. A broker diagnostic for assessing local, regional and LEB-wide institutional arrangements for Aboriginal governance of desert environments. [pdf 588.3 kb]

Larson S and Williams LJ. 2009. Monitoring the success of stakeholder engagement: Literature review. [pdf 641.3 kb]

Link to external report: Indigenous Pastoral Employment Review, on this page: http://www.desertknowledgecrc.com.au/research/pastoralism.html in the section: 2. Engaging Aboriginal pastoralists: Cattle and Country project

Working papers

Moran M, Anda M, Elvin R, Kennedy A, Long S, McFallan S, McGrath N, Memmott P, Mulgan R, Stanley O, Sullivan P, Tedmanson D, Wright A and Young M. 2009. Desert Services That Work: Year One Research Report, Working Paper 30, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs. [pdf 3.2 Mb]

and accompanying poster:

DKCRC Aboriginal Knowledge and IP Protocol Community guide Poster
[pdf 438.6 kb]