International panelists
Last updated: 14 March 2007
Nine international experts on environmental sustainability featured at the PCE20 Forum in Wellington on 1-2 March 2007. In the following week they travelled to workshops in Christchurch and Auckland.
The group included:
Dr Guenther Bachmann
Director, German Council for Sustainable Development
German chancellor Angela Merkel pays a lot of attention to the views of the German Council for Sustainable Development. The council's high profile reflects Guenther's emphasis on "creative ways to communicate our common challenge", and he lists making the council's recommendations publicly heard as one of his key achievements.
Guenther was appointed head of the council when it was established in 2001. It is an independent body of 17 representatives from environmental NGOs, the economy, consumer groups, churches, trade unions, local communities and science that champion sustainability at all levels of government and in the private sector.
Guenther originally studied landscape planning in Berlin and, after working as a university researcher, completed his PhD on environmental policies and soil devastation in Germany. In 1992 he became head of section for soil ecology with the German Federal Environmental Agency.
"The concept of sustainability goes back to 17th century in Middle Europe when extensive forest cut-off threatened ecologies and economies. I am interested in bringing together different views on how to sustain humans' future on earth and to look into the process of societal learning.
"While in New Zealand, I am very keen to meet with politicians, entrepreneurs, officers and citizens groups over sustainable development initiatives and public involvement. I am interested to learn more about how people from abroad look at the EU and what they expect Europe to do in order to promote and to speed up sustainable development politics."
Guenther is married with "an (almost) grown up daughter".
Professor Tim Jackson
Centre for Environmental Strategy, School of Engineering, University of Surrey, UK
Tim is still fascinated by the complexity of sustainable development, a field he has worked in for over 20 years. The key challenges it lays down, he says, are to bridge the gap between research and policy, and to draw on different disciplines.
Technology won't fix our problems, he believes, but that "opens out a huge and relatively uncharted territory in relation to psychology and philosophy of social change".
Tim was appointed to the UK Sustainable Development Commission in March 2004, as chair of the Economics Steering Group.
"I was thrown in head first to the review of UK sustainable development strategy. For about nine months, we worked solidly, working through new policy suggestions and initiatives, kicking off whole new areas of research around well being, sustainable consumption, and environmental justice."
The 2005 strategy that resulted represents a real step forward for sustainability, he says. In April 2000 he had been appointed Professor of Sustainable Development, the first such chair to be created in the UK. He is currently director of cross-departmental research at the University of Surrey looking at lifestyles, values, and environment.
Climate change is today's biggest sustainability challenge, he says. Solving it will require us to dig deep, to find not just technological solutions, but to understand more clearly the nature of human progress and our relationship to the natural world.
If he could change one thing in relation to the environment, it would be his time. Ultimately, sustainability is how we live our lives, how we interact with each other, and how we engage with the environment.
"The biggest casualty of my 'career' in sustainable development is my own life! But then, sitting at home dreaming of matters won't help utopia either."
Dr Ian McPhail
Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability in Victoria, Australia
A New Zealander who began his professional life as a school teacher, Ian became Victorian commissioner in November 2003. His role, he says, is to be an advocate of environmental sustainability in Victoria.
"Sustainability simply means the ability to be maintained or sustained. Environmental sustainability is saying that we are able to sustain the environment as part of the economic and social development - forever."
Our biggest sustainability challenge is to uncouple growth from environmental degradation, he believes. If he could make one major change, it would be to educate people to realise that food, fibre and water come from the earth and nowhere else.
Ian arrived in Victoria from Queensland, where he had been deputy director-general of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. His extensive experience across state and federal government included executive director of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, chair of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and inaugural executive director of the Commonwealth Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2002 Ian was appointed a member in the Order of Australia (AM) for service to conservation and the environment. He was particularly commended for the development of government policies and programs, and for the reform of national parks and wildlife administration in Australia.
Gord Miller
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Canada
Gord Miller has served as the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario since 2000 and oversees the implementation of the Environmental Bill of Rights.
As an independent officer, Gord monitors and reports annually on government compliance with the EBR. He is currently serving a second five-year term. Prior to his appointment, he worked for the Ministry of the Environment for 14 years.
Gord has extensive experience with environmental issues including approval and inspection activities, municipal sewage, drinking water, solid waste management, hazardous waste, noise, air pollution and land use planning. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Biology from the University of Guelph and an MSc in Plant Ecology.
Professor Peter Newman
Director, Institute of Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
A prolific speaker and writer on sustainability issues, Peter chairs the Western Australian Government's Sustainability Roundtable.
He is well known in Perth for his work in rebuilding the city's rail system. In 2001-03, he directed the state's sustainability strategy, the first of its type in the world.
Peter has worked in all levels of government and was an elected councillor in the city of Fremantle from 1976 to 1980. In 2004 he was made a Sustainability Commissioner in NSW advising the government on planning issues.
He is also Professor of City Policy at Murdoch University, where he has been since 1974. A visiting professor with the University of Pennsylvania, his book with Jeff Kenworthy "Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence" was launched at the White House in 1999.
Dr Ingeborg Niestroy
Secretary General, European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC)
Having seen the movie Whale Rider, Ingeborg says she could not resist an invitation to visit New Zealand. Even more so, she is curious about and keen to understand the sustainable development policies of a country with our particular geography, history and traditions.
From her lengthy involvement in sustainable development in Europe, Ingeborg believes that learning from a country's experience means learning about how the country is governed and organised - who does what, and why.
In 1999, she began working for EEAC, the umbrella organisation for all the councils in Europe that have been set up by national or regional governments to give independent advice and to promote dialogue on environmental policy and sustainable development.
In 2005 EEAC published the benchmark study Sustaining Sustainability. This contained the results of her research on national strategies on sustainable development and the impact of councils in nine EU member states.
Originally a physical geographer, Ingeborg researched Strategic Environmental Assessment in Germany and California for her PhD.
"Doing well in a PhD with a law as a main second focus, as a non-lawyer, was better than getting straight As for botany in Diploma exams as a non-botanist," she says.
Today her interests include the global dimensions of sustainable development, and she would like to find a way to help developing countries take a more sustainable path. Population growth is one of our biggest sustainability challenges, she believes, as any other improvements could be easily "eaten up".
Ordinary people, and small countries, can make a difference, she says. Waste reduction, good water treatment, minimising CO2 from transport, 'extensifying' agriculture, eating less meat, and using energy-saving appliances in households are all useful steps. And never underestimate the power of a strong role model.
Professor Tim O'Riordan
Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
A member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, Tim has always been interested in environmental management, holistic approaches to science, and applied research.
His first research looked at excessive irrigation of potatoes which led to small rivers drying out. This sparked his interest in "nature's rights" and nature's restorative and life-protecting functions. 'Limits' to resource use are not limits, he says, they are a form of cohabitation with a planet.
Tim began his studies in geography in his home city at Edinburgh University, later gaining a PhD at Cambridge University. After teaching geography at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in Canada, he lectured in geography at the University of Canterbury in 1971. Here he began his love of New Zealand people, environmental research and analysis.
His main interests today include the relationship between global agreements and local action for sustainable development; the emergence of a more independent local authority role in shaping sustainable futures for communities; the future of the coastline in East Anglia; and how democracies can take into account very long-term decision making on issues such as climate change, endangered coasts, and wildlife management.
The Sustainable Development Commission is an independent body championing sustainability on all levels of government in the UK. While in New Zealand, Tim is very keen to look at the emerging role of local sustainability initiatives; on working with schools for sustainability; meeting politicians, officers and citizens groups over resources management; and promoting the role of science for sustainability more generally.
He is a widower with two grown-up daughters. He plays the double bass in a number of classical orchestras and briefly played in the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 1971.
Dr Rosemary Purdie
former Commissioner for the Environment, ACT, Australia
The biggest sustainability challenge facing the world today, says Rosemary, is the social inequities within and between nations.
"We must address these to have any hope of appropriately tackling major environmental issues like climate change and the sustainable use of natural resources."
Appointed Commissioner for the Environment from May 2004 to December 2006, Rosemary says the highlight of working in sustainability - apart from retaining a sense of humour - is the people she has met and worked with: passionate, committed, dedicated, and willing to make a difference.
Originally a plant ecologist, she has helped to describe Australia's biodiversity through land system surveys, vegetation surveys, extensive botanical collecting and helping to edit several volumes of the Flora of Australia. She spent many years on vegetation survey work in arid and semi-arid Australia before succumbing to life as a manager, and still spends as much time as she can - outside of work hours - in the bush.
In May 1988, Rosemary joined the Murray-Darling Basin Commission as Director, Natural Resources Evaluation and Communication. Prior to that, she had spent 12 years with the Australian Heritage Commission identifying places of natural, indigenous and historic significance across Australia, and advising on their protection.
Today she has just finished preparing with her staff 17 full state-of-the-environment reports for local governments in the ACT region. She is also associate editor for the Australasian Journal of Environmental Management.
The PCE's 20th anniversary is well worth celebrating, she says, both to highlight its achievements and to mark the importance of having an independent voice for the next 20 years and beyond.
"Sustainability is not about one size fitting all - sharing experiences and reflecting on what we can learn from our own local, provincial, and national situations is a really important part of the journey."
Dr L.G. (Bart) Wesselink
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP)
When you live in country where half of the land lies below sea level, you tend to take a keen interest in climate change. Bart is no exception, and he is intrigued by the Dutch response to it.
"Adaptation to rising water levels is in the veins of Dutch engineers and administrators," he says. Engineering and technological solutions top the list, but sustainability thinking has some way to go. Mitigation through CO2 reduction and sustainable energy is still treated as a cheap option "best done elsewhere".
At MNP, where his career has focused on policy impacts on environmental improvement, Bart has acquired a broad knowledge of environmental issues and policies across the Netherlands and Europe.
He originally studied soil science at Wageningen Agricultural University where he gained a PhD. During studies including a traineeship at Cornell University in New York, his interest broadened from short-term laboratory experiments to studies on long-term changes to forest-soil ecosystems.
In his current work as manager of the 'European Sustainability' programme, his attention has shifted from retention of chemicals in soils to diffusion of policies in society. He leads Dutch state-of-the-environment reporting, and has supervised a mid-term review of the European Environment Agenda. Bart considers the inspiring presentations he gives for politicians, colleague researchers and students to be the highlight of such projects.
Another highlight came in 2004 when the then Dutch president of the European Union presented to the EU parliament the MNP's review of the EU's environmental record.
Outside his professional activities, Bart chairs the board for seven primary schools in his hometown of Zeist. He keeps fit with regular running and race-cycling, and is an active member of his local church. He is happily married to Annet Roodenburg. They have two teenage children, Tim and Koen, who reminded him that New Zealand is the country where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
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