Australian landscape ecologist Richard Thackway visited WRI for a presentation on the importance of regional planning for ecosystem services as part of a month-long study tour of the United States. In support of his role as Vegetation Information Manager in the Australian Bureau of Rural Sciences, Thackway is collaborating with selected researchers from The Heinz Center, The Nature Conservancy and WRI to help inform the Australian Government’s need for vegetation management information.
Thackway described a range of efforts underway to use an ecosystem service framing for evaluating different land use and management options in Australia. This use of the ecosystem service framing for linking ecosystems and development goals is an approach that WRI is seeking to advance in its cluster of work on mainstreaming ecosystem services in public and private sector decision making.
Watch the audio slideshow of his 40-minute presentation *
Vegetation management information can be summarized as:
- Characterizing vegetation and the associated ecosystem services.
- Setting priorities for investment in multiple services.
- Guiding policy and program implementation.
- Tracking progress.
- Supporting the development of adaptive management to maintain or enhance the sustainable use and management of vegetation for multiple environmental benefits.
Thackway has published numerous papers in these subject areas.
* (due to a technical problem during recording, the last few seconds of his presentation audio are cut off).
