Michael Looker
The director of The Nature Conservancy's Australia program, Michael Looker is a trained botanist and one of Australia's leading scientists. Under his direction, the program has protected 8.9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) of biodiversity rich land in Australia through 27 direct land acquisitions. Before joining the Conservancy in 2005, Michael was director of the Australian nonprofit Trust for Nature, served as a senior lecturer in environmental horticulture at Burnley College at the University of Melbourne, and was superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. His major areas of interest and research have focused on vegetation management, achieving conservation outcomes at-scale and forging closer links between private and public investment in conservation.
Posts by Michael Looker:
Indigenous Lands Conserved in Northern Australia
Indigenous Aboriginal ranger Romeo Lane points out an ancient painting of a six-legged goanna lizard to the curious crowd of media and visitors — myself included — that surrounds him.
The painting is just one of thousands that scatter the escarpments of Arnhem Land in the very northern tip of Australia’s vast tropical savanna. This rich cultural [...]
Posted: September 29th, 2009 under Australia, Deserts and Aridlands, Fire, Indigenous Communities, Protected Areas, The Nature Conservancy.
Tags: Arnhem land, Australia conservation, bushfire, Djelk and Warddeken Indigenous Protected Areas, Djelk Rangers, goanna lizard, indigenous lands conservation, traditional fire practices, tropical savanna, Warddeken Manwurrk Rangers
Comments: none
Australia: Land of the Unusual, or the Homogenized?
The island nation of Australia has a long history of newcomers landing on its shores — beginning with the first indigenous people, who arrived over 40,000 years ago.
With them they bought what was probably the first introduced animal to Australia – the dingo. While it is highly probable this canine had a significant impact on [...]
Posted: September 14th, 2009 under Animals, Australia, Invasive species.
Tags: Australia, Australia camel, Australia cat, Australia donkey, Australia ecological balance, Australia ecology, Australia extinction, Australia introduced species, Australia invasive, Australia invasive species, Australia mammal extinction, Australia pig, black-footed tree rat, cane toad, cane toad Australia, dingo invasive, feral animal Australia, golden bandicoot, Michael Looker, northern quoll
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