The 15th Conference of the Australian Rangeland Society will be held in Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia, from 28 September – 2 October, 2008. The conference theme “A Climate of Change in the Rangelands” will focus on the changing environmental, social, cultural and economics facing Australia’s rangelands in the future and linking this dynamic to the broader community’s real values concerning the rangelands.

This will be a conference that facilitates networking and provides a programme full of discussions on the latest scientific innovations for rangelands and the challenging issues facing land managers. Under our theme “A Climate of Change in the Rangelands” we will hear about biodiversity, bioindicators, carbon sequestration, climate risk assessment, duty of care, ecological health, ecosystem services, environmental services, greenhouse budget, landscape condition and sustainability indicators. These will be explored in sessions on grazing management, land condition and monitoring, biodiversity management and conservation, multiple land use, environmental risk management, capacity building and action learning tools.

The conference is an opportunity for managers, carers and users of the rangelands to get the latest technical information from some of Australia’s best researchers and rangeland managers in the areas of natural resource management, conservation and biodiversity; environmental risk management; multiple land use; tourism and mining in the rangelands; sustainability indicators; social equity; stewardship; indigenous issues and land management; land restoration.

We are very keen to attract students to the Conference. As well as offering a highly discounted registration fee, the program will be structured to specifically encourage student contributions. Young Researcher Prizes will be offered for the best spoken presentation/poster presented by either a current student, or one whose degree has been conferred within the previous six months. The presentation must be about student work.

Contact JK Connections:
Janine King janine@jkconnections.com.au 07 5547 0774
Jackie Kyte jackie@jkconnections.com.au 07 5482 4368