Institute of Australian Geographers

Environmental Sustainability Study Group

Welcome to the IAG Environmental Sustainability Study Group Homepage. You will find information on our office bearers, constitution, the expertise of members, and forthcoming events.

Environmental Sustainability Study Group members at the Cairns IAG 2009 Conference Workshop with Gavin Bridge. Pictured from L to R are: Robert Gale; Joel Turner; Nicholas Gill; Christine Eriksen; Paul Smith; Anne-Marie d’Hauteserre and Gavin Bridge.

Current IAG Convenor of the Environmental Sustainability Study Group (from the Cairns IAG 2009 Conference):

Dr Robert Gale Professorial Visiting Fellow Institute of Environmental Studies The University of New South Wales Sydney Website: http://www.ies.unsw.edu.au/staff/robertgale.html Phone: 0434 216 136

Previous Convenor of the Environmental Sustainability Study Group (prior to Cairns IAG 2009 conference):

Nick Gill School of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Wollongong Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia Email: ngill@uow.edu.au Phone: +61 2 4221 4165

Environmental Sustainability Study Group at the IAG Hobart, July 1 2008.

• Special Edition of Geographical Research from ESSG Confererence sessions on water resources at the 2007 IAG Conference. Edited and contributions by ESSG members.
  Broderick, K. and Gill, N. (eds.) (2008) Water Crisis? Socio-cultural and Environmental Dimensions of Water and Rivers, Special Edition of Geographical Research, 46(3).

Aims

The aim of the group as decided at the inaugural Adelaide meeting in 2004 is: To facilitate research and debate on environmental sustainability in rural, urban and remote regions.

The key themes that the group decided to focus on are:

• sustainable regional development (bringing together economic, social and environmental geographers);
• the crisis in water management (encompassing integrated catchment management);
• interpretation and communication of environmental issues (including environmental education);
• the role of communities in maintaining environmental sustainability;
• ‘governance’ (the range of formal and informal policy and decision-making process and practice that inform and characterise environmental/NRM management. This includes institutional frameworks and power relations between groups and interests), and
• the dynamics of landscape change and the environmental implications of global changes (including indicators, measurement, mapping, GIS).

Constitution

1. The Group shall be called the Environmental Sustainability Study Group hereinafter referred to as the Group.
2. The Group shall be a Study Group of the Institute of Australian Geographers Inc, hereinafter referred to as the Institute.
3. The aim of the Group is to promote and represent the interests of Australian geography and geographers in environmental sustainability.
4. Membership of the Group shall be open to all members of the Institute and such other persons as the committee of the Group shall consider eligible, subject to any general rules of the Institute.
5. With the exception of members who are not members of the Institute all members may be nominated for any office of the Group.
6. The annual subscription of the Group shall be such sum as may be determined by its General Meeting from time to time.
7. Management of the Group shall be in the hands of a committee, which shall normally consist of at least two officers and one ordinary committee member.
8. A brief Annual Report of the Group shall be compiled and sent to the Honorary Secretary of the Institute. A more complete statement of Group activities shall be submitted to each general business meeting of the Institute.
9. The funds of the Group shall be managed at the discretion of the Committee in pursuit of the aims of the Group (para. 3 above). Proper books of account shall be kept by the Group Treasurer.
10. Should the Group wish to engage in publication involving the name of the Institute prior consultation shall be held with the Honorary Editor of Australian Geographical Studies.
11. The group may cease to be the Environmental Sustainability Study Group of the Institute either by a decision at the General Meeting of the Institute, or by a decision of the Council of the Institute.
12. The Group may at any time be dissolved at a General Meeting of the Institute or Extraordinary General Meeting of the Institute by two-thirds of those present.
13. In the event of the Group being dissolved, the members of the Group shall discharge all debts and liabilities. No individual member of the Group shall benefit financially. Any balance remaining in the account will be made over to the Institute.

Directory of expertise

Click here to see the Environmental Sustainability Study Group’s Directory of Expertise.

Reports

You can download the following reports and minutes of the Environmental Sustainability Study Group:

• Record of a meeting of the Environmental Sustainability Study Group, Hobart, 1 July 2008
• Report for 2004-2006
• Report for 2006-2007
• Report for 2007-2008
• Record of a meeting of the Environmental Sustainability Study Group, Adelaide, 16 April 2004
• Outcomes of the Adelaide Workshop, December 2004