Centre for Water and Landscape Management
Statement of Purpose
The University of Melbourne established the Centre for Water and Landscape Management to provide research, leadership and practical applications for water and landscape management that will foster sustainable rural communities. More than just a centre for environmental sustainability, this Centre aims to find solutions for sustainable water and landscape use that supports economic growth in regional Australia through world-best research and collaboration with rural communities.
The presence of internationally eminent scholars utilising cutting-edge research techniques will attract high calibre postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows to the Centre leading to a new generation of 'thinkers and doers' in the field of sustainable agricultural landscape systems. The research capacity and momentum generated will establish the Centre as a focus for independent research, analysis, policy advice and community change.
Moreover, the Centre will, through driving change within the farming community, deliver strong outcomes consistent with the National Heritage Trust's third objective of ' Community Capacity Building and Institutional Change'.
The Centre for Water and Landscape Management is a research, education and training facility focused on these outcomes and commenced operation on 1 January 2004.
Mission
We believe it is vital that Australia have:
- A centre of independent research, analysis and advice dealing with water management and other complex environmental issues that continue to arise.
- Trained experts with the skills to think and work holistically at the landscape scale, in partnership with local communities.
- Practical short courses to educate farmers, advisers and suppliers that deliver sustainable benefits.
- A visionary system of graduate education (Postgraduate Coursework on a national and international scale) to professionals currently working in industry, agriculture, government and the community and directly and indirectly responsible for the implementation of Commonwealth and State programs such as National Heritage Trust, National Action Plan for Salinity and Murray Darling Basin Commission.
- New undergraduate degree programs that embrace environmental sustainability in agriculture to produce a new generation of agricultural graduates with rigorous training in the sustainable management of the landscape.
Location
The Centre for Water and Landscape Management is located at the Dookie Campus of the Melbourne School of Land and Environment, the University of Melbourne. Dookie Campus is situated in the Goulburn Catchment of the Murray Darling Basin. The Centre will utilise the 2,500 hectare Dookie Estate operating as a series of commercial enterprises as a focus for 'research to practice' implementation projects incorporating ongoing monitoring of productivity and environmental performance.
Key Program Areas of the Centre
The key program areas for the Centre are:
- Capacity Building is strongly integrated into all activities including existing education programs, short courses and future graduate coursework programs. This activity utilizes the teaching facilities in Shepparton and the Dookie Campus to deliver capacity building courses to the Goulburn Valley and nationally in the case of postgraduate coursework programs using the Dookie estate and the Goulburn Valley generally as an outdoor laboratory.
- Science and Citizenship-- to explore experiential approaches towards changing community attitudes to science and enhancing community communication between citizens, scientists and policy makers. A key focus is knowledge brokering between experts and the public where change is mediated by science. This involves cutting-edge research-based science communication and community action research in the Goulburn Valley.
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Social Landscapes-- a ction , rather than knowledge is the unit of analysis that underpins the distinctive social science approach within the 'Goulburn Valley Model'. Building on the theory of practice, the initial starting position within the proposed partnerships is the use of 'an interplay model' to integrate 'doing' and 'knowing' and so develop local connections and analysis of complex water and landscape management actions and decisions. This approach is an overall backdrop to other activities and informs the science, technology and innovation introduced or co-developed with industry, government and communities.
- Policy, Institutional and Legal Frameworks-- to incorporate work on the diverse legal and policy frameworks for the regulation of water and associated land management practices. It considers how specific legal forms, such as property rights in water, relate to broader policy approaches, institutional frameworks, community interests and environmental effects. One focus for this analysis is a consideration of the economic impacts of alternative legislative frameworks, water market structures and government infrastructure support. Further, it considers alternative options for policy development and law reform, to promote change in institutional regulatory structures that in part, reflect the application of science and technological developments in the field of water research.
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Resource Management Innovation-- to promote innovation by working with stakeholder groups in the application of science and technology towards productive and sustainable outcomes. This expressly seeks to utilise the 2,500 hectare Dookie Estate operating as a series of commercial enterprises as a focus for 'research to practice' implementation projects incorporating ongoing monitoring of environmental performance. It has the capacity to be informed by and assist with other activities in key strategic areas.
- New Science and Technology-- to add to existing and proposed biophysical research in the Goulburn Valley by the University of Melbourne staff, such as the CRCs for Catchment Hydrology and Greenhouse Accounting, the Orchard of the 21 st Century and Biosolids experimentation at Dookie.
For further information, please download a copy of the CWLM information brochure (PDF, 340kb)
Contact Details
Director: Prof Snow Barlow
Executive Officer: Sarah Parker
Centre for Water and Landscape Management, The University of Melbourne, Dookie Campus, Victoria 3647.
Phone: (03) 5833 9200, Fax: (03) 5833 9201, email: dookie-info@unimelb.edu.au