About the talk

As our memories of last summer’s devastating bushfires are eclipsed by a cold wet Covid-lockdown winter, it’s important to keep thinking about how we plan and manage the intense fire risk eastern Australia faces every summer. Bushfire and logging are both highly emotive and polarising topics of public debate. Those of us who care deeply about nature and biodiversity need to know what the best science says about how we can minimise loss of human life, property and our treasured native forests.

This talk throws a clear light on the complexity, providing an accessible overview of the evidence, some clear and positive recommendations about how to move forward and a reference list as long as your arm of peer reviewed papers to back it up.

David draws on the results of decades (37 years) of ecological research into the dynamics of fire and forest ecosystems. He discusses data from extensive monitoring and analysis of natural experiments to answer questions such as:

• The effect climate change is having on forest fires.
• Does logging in native forests reduce or increase bushfire risk?
• What are the effects of salvage logging after fires?
• Can we protect human settlements from fire while protecting the forests themselves?

About the format

In this IFFA event we are experimenting with a slightly different format. Instead of asking David  to repeat a talk that he gave only recently, we invite IFFA members to join us in watching a recording of the talk on YouTube together, starting at 6pm. We will have a Skype chat setup to allow people to discuss the talk as they watch it. After the talk has finished we will be joined live by David for a Q&A session over Skype. If you prefer you may watch the video of the talk in your own time and join us just for the live Q&A at 7.30.

The YouTube video of the talk is available here: https://youtu.be/8YCSr7dZKRM.

Please register for the session and you will be emailed a link to the Skype chat before the event.

About Prof. Lindenmayer

Professor David Lindenmayer is a world-leading expert in forest ecology and resource management, conservation science, and biodiversity conservation. He currently runs 6 large-scale, long-term research programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily associated with developing ways to conserve biodiversity in farmland, wood production forests, plantations, and reserves. He has maintained some of the largest, long-term research programs in Australia, with some exceeding 37 years in duration.

David has published 1255 scientific articles including 795 peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals. He has also published 45 books, including many award winning textbooks and other seminal books. He is among the world's most productive and most highly-cited scientists, particularly in forest ecology and conservation biology.

David held a prestigious Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow from 2013-2018. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (elected 2008), a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (elected in 2019), and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2014. His research has been recognised through numerous awards, including the Eureka Science Prize (twice), Whitley Award (10 times), the Serventy Medal for Ornithology, and the Australian Natural History Medallion. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Whittaker Medal from the Ecological Society of America.

Agenda

• 6.00pm Start watching YouTube video - Skype livechat opens
• 7.30pm David answers questions live
  
• 8.00pm Event concludes