Restoring and maintaining balance in our natural environment

What UWA is doing about this global issue

• Researchers at UWA are involved in wide-ranging research and projects to answer complex questions about the degradation, conservation and restoration of the world's ecosystems.
• Our marine science researchers are assessing human impact on ocean sustainability and biodiversity. Research projects include monitoring changes in fish numbers, investigating the displacement of humpback whales, and analysing the ecological and economic benefits of marine sanctuaries.
• Land and water management researchers are addressing the challenge of managing and sustaining farming yields as climate and rainfall variability threaten our farming systems. Their projects include water percolation and soil-water-crop dynamics, surface chemistry, pesticide leaching and soil erosion.

• Our cutting-edge research into the economic and environmental effects of agricultural activities is informing the actions of governments and farming communities alike. Our work spans environmental economics, natural resource management, the economics of non-renewable resources and energy, and agricultural economics and policies.
• Big projects, such as our survey of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, seek to understand how global change is affecting biodiversity, ecological resilience and natural ecosystems. Our research spans conservation biology, forest fragmentation, insect ecology and population dynamics.
• We’ve developed dynamic models to understand multi-scale patterns in ecological processes and fire regime impacts. Our research is informing vital fire management decisions and improving vital management decisions and environmental outcomes.