Piers Dunstan

I am a Team Leader with CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, with expertise on the identification, analysis, management and conservation of marine biodiversity and data systems to support these efforts. This work has been part of the Marine Biodiversity Hub and includes developing approaches to the management of marine biodiversity for the Australian Government. I have developed statistical tools to robustly quantify the effects of human activity on marine biodiversity and quantifying patterns of distributions and processes to quantify cumulative risk within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. This involves collaboration with a broad range of scientists including ecologists, taxonomists, geologists, oceanographers, spatial modellers, fisheries scientists and statisticians. This work will inform current work on habitat based impact assessment for Northern Australia undertaken by the Marine Hub.

I am leading a CSIRO team working in the South Pacific, Coral Triangle and Indian Oceans to assist countries to develop the technical capacity to improve the governance and management of oceans. This includes support for information management, geospatial analysis, ecosystem characterisation/bioregionalisation and development of environmental policy. These programs apply our experience in the implementation of an Ecosystem Approach to support activities in regional in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.