The Restoration Decade Alliance Steering Committee

Peter Dixon

Australian Association of Bush Regenerators
(President)

with government, NGOs, and community to promote best practice techniques in ecological restoration and management, to help set priorities for restoration, and to encourage policy makers and funders to acknowledge the need for sufficient and consistent funding to the long-term restoration of Australia’s terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. I hope to bring my career skills and experience gained as a bush regeneration practitioner, Landcarer, community educator and facilitator and government senior executive to the RDA to work towards these goals."

 

Alison Sentance

Aboriginal Biodiversity Conservation Foundation
(Executive Finance and Strategy Advisor)

 and is pursuing a Masters in Professional Accounting. With 20 years’ experience leading socio-economic Aboriginal land-based projects across WA, NT, and SA, she is highly skilled in developing innovative enterprises and robust financial governance. Her “building better business” approach has transformed ACCOs for sustainable, impactful growth. Alison founded Vital Consult, South Australia’s first B Corp, and in 2016, ABC Foundation Ltd—her proudest achievement.

ABC Foundation empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through environmentally focused enterprises, capacity-building partnerships, and On-Country programs. We reinvest profits via our Future Fund, pursue grant opportunities, and collaborate with communities to support self-determined, long-term success while preserving Country and culture."

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Nathan Waltham

Australian Coastal Restoration Network
(Principal Research Scientist)

ecosystems, I have a deep interest and passion in my work, and in training and inspiring future leaders. The Australian Coastal Restoration Network is a consortium of scientists, government staff, industry, NGO and community folk, focused on restoring and raising the profile of coastal habitats (seagrass, saltmarsh, mangroves, shellfish, macroalgae). The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is centre stage, but it is also beyond that we need to be focused on."

Andrew Fairney

Australian Network for Plant Conservation
(Committee Member)

the restoration/reconstruction of high quality native grasslands in particular, founder and CEO of the not-for-profit Seeding Natives in South Australia and a committee member of the ANPC.
The ANPC is an association of people and organisations dedicated to the conservation of Australia’s native plant species and vegetation communities, which are part of our living national heritage and underpin the health and productivity of our continent. We have over two decades of experience in presenting training courses and bringing the best science and practical experience together in a form accessible to on-ground practitioners."

Kathy Eyles

Australian Seed Bank Partnership
(National Coordinator)
 is a critical piece of the restoration puzzle - our national collaboration of conservation seedbanks and plant conservation organisations is focused on ex situ seed collecting, banking and research to support on-ground conservation and recovery of our native flora and ecological communities.  Our research on seed traits and responses to environmental stressors is more important than ever to inform restoration of climate and disease resilient landscapes.  As well representing the Partnership as a member of the RDA,  I bring my grass roots experience as a volunteer bush regenerator and 30+ year professional career as an environmental planner, NRM facilitator and biodiversity policy and program manager in government and community-based conservation NGO's."

Rebecca Spindler

Bush Heritage Australia
(Executive Manager, Science & Conservation)

across Australia in a way that is ready for and resilient to the future changes and connects people back to Country. Bush Heritage takes responsibility and cares for large swathes of the Australian landscape, we are excited to learn with and from Traditional Owners and other restoration experts in the Alliance as we all work to stop the decline of Australian species and habitats and to build and reconnect stronger, more resilient, thriving landscapes."

Keith Bradby

Gondwana Link
(CEO)

scale ecosystem restoration that supports First Nation’s aspirations and rebuild rural communities. It’s a damaged country, but over the last few decades groups across Australia have collectively laid the foundations of the transformative effort that is now achievable. By working together we can add Australia to the already impressive list of countries working ambitiously to achieve a future for the planet that is healthy, productive and resilient."

Blair Parsons

Greening Australia Ltd.
(Science & Planning Manager)

on Ecosystem Restoration cannot be understated, this Decade can, and will be, one of action. I am excited to see the RDA use the collective expertise, energy and reach of its member organisations to translate the vision of the Decade into genuine momentum. To achieve the required impact to protect and restore Australia’s precious biodiversity and tackle climate change, we need to act at an unprecedented scale. I am encouraged by the green shoots of the Alliance, which build on the extensive experience of its participating members so that together, we can collectively deliver a far greater impact than we could acting alone."

Gary Howling

Great Eastern Ranges Initiative
(Executive Director)

to protect, connect and restore healthy landscapes and ecosystems across 3,600km of eastern Australia. The Restoration Decade Alliance (RDA) provides an invaluable forum for other like-minded conservation and NRM organisations to combine efforts in the common pursuit of meeting the critical goals of the UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. For our part, GER will provide a platform for promoting connectivity conservation and for driving greater regional coordination at the local level whilst creating corridors of restoration impact across multiple landscapes."

James Trezise

Invasive Species Council
(Conservation Director)

extinction crisis. Native biodiversity is disappearing at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction. We need to turn it around and one of the key ways to do that is restoring what we’ve lost. My hope for the RDA is that we work together to build a movement that supports the restoration of native ecosystems in Australia, putting our biodiversity on a path to recovery and in turn tackle some of the major drivers of species loss."

Katie Selhorst

Landcare Australia Ltd.
(Head of Landscape Restoration and Chief Remote Pilot)

in land management. Katie has worked in various disciplines within several ecological regions in Australia and specialises in program development and implementation. Her extensive field consultancy work includes ecological and conservation land management for over 15 years within Australia and three years of conservation biology work in the USA. With a unique education and career to date, Katie has developed an expansive skillset for implementing multidisciplinary conservation management, restoration, and research programs. Katie is also Landcare Australia’s Chief Remote Pilot enhancing the organisation’s survey and monitoring capabilities through using drone technology, imagery analysis and spatial statistics. This allows Landcare Australia to develop better field programs, support and build capability of landcare groups and more efficient monitoring datasets, particularly for vulnerable species populations."

Patrick O'Connor

National Landcare Network
(Former Chair)

resources and communities to restoration across Australia. The landcare community led by the National Landcare Network is making every connection count to add evidence, passion, community-connections and partnerships into restoration at local and landscape scales.  As the chair of the national body for landcare I see and hear about the enormous capacity in our communities to mobilise for a successful decade of restoration. We are pleased to bring the voice of landcare to the united voice for restoration."

John Dixon

Global EverGreening Alliance
(Chair, Restore Australia)

the RDA as an exceptional opportunity to consolidate restoration and development activities to restore land and carbon across Australia. The GEA develops major regional land and carbon restoration programs, supports a Campaign to foster the sequestration of 20 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2050, and is part of a Council of more than 70 Fellows with extensive experience in land and carbon restoration. I Chair the Technical Advisory Board for the GEA’s Restore Australia program, and my colleague Sally heads up the Alliance’s Media and Communications Team."

Valerie Hagger

Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia
(Board Member)

the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration where we have an opportunity now and in the coming years to recover our degraded ecosystems. Representing SERA in the RDA keeps me grounded in the needs of practitioners and the power of collective action. It allows me to contribute to efficient, concerted restoration efforts from my experience in coastal wetland restoration and reforestation and through means such as SERA's National Standards for Ecological Restoration."

Dr Geoff Lipsett-Moore

The Nature Conservancy
(Natural Climate Solutions Specialist)

For the past 15 years I’ve been immersed in Natural Climate Solutions development including: savanna burning, from initial proof-of-concept projects, to methods development, to supporting the scale-up with Traditional Owners across Northern Australia, to mobilizing the global uptake of the approach. For the last three years following a similar process with the TNC team and partners for Blue Carbon, restoring coastal wetlands. My role continues to evolve now expanding to include global regenerative agriculture (inclusive of landscape restoration)."

Tanya Pritchard

WWF-Australia
(Senior Manager Koala Recovery and Landscape Restoration )

create a more sustainable, equitable ,and resilient world. WWF’s strategy for a regen revolution is characterised by embracing new technologies and by listening and learning from First Nation People’s knowledge–recognising the interconnectedness of Sky, Country, Water and first nations people. As WWF-Australia’s lead in Landscape Restoration, I see the Alliance as a great opportunity to turn the tide on environmental decline, by bringing together our collective strengths to tackle this complex challenge. What I’d really like to see over the next decade is for the multiple benefits of ecological restoration to be properly valued and accounted for in private and public sector balance sheets.”

Craig Copeland

OzFish Unlimited
(Chief Executive Officer)

Australia and supporting recreational fishers to take part in those works. Ecological restoration is hard, costly and time consuming and the best way to make it happen is through good partnerships. The RDA is a great partnership that allows us to share our knowledge and work together to make the policy and program changes needed to deliver the ecosystem restoration that is needed."

Noel Corkery

Landscape Foundation
of Australia
(Founding Director)

urban areas, where the vast majority of people live. The LFA is committed to the protection, restoration and sustainable management of natural environments that occur in and around the urban landscapes of Australian cities and towns. We know that urgent, direct and coordinated action is required to halt the process of decline and to restore a sustainable relationship between people and natural environments, to ensure their mutual health and survival. LFA greatly appreciates the opportunity to work in collaboration with the other RDA member organisations to promote the goals of the UN Decade of Restoration. I am honoured to chair the RDA Government Policy Working Group, which advocates for more effective government policy related to ecosystem restoration and management."

Tein McDonald

Restoration Decade Alliance
(Convenor)

pre-eminent restoration organisations who have come together to harness the power of the Decade.  We aim to make a real difference in reducing degradation and increasing the extent and quality of restoration in Australia, contributing to the global effort. Our member groups have worked magnificently as separate organisations over the last 40 years - now it is time to create a united voice and add value to our collective work through collaboration."

Hannah Sharp

Restoration Decade Alliance
(Facilitator)

management, I’m excited to be able to contribute my skills to advancing the goals of this fantastic alliance and work towards building a healthier, greener and more biodiverse future. Bringing together a wealth of knowledge and experience across all aspects of ecological restoration, the RDA is a champion for positive change, amplifying a call for urgent and ambitious action to secure the future of our native environment."