There is no doubt of the increasing risk from new and emerging diseases and that such diseases have the potential for profound implications for all sectors of society. The emergence of entirely new diseases such as SARS is usually the result of changes in the way that we do things and is often...

Sustainable food production depends on well functioning agro-biological ecosystems: a diversity of living organisms—the biodiversity—plays a critical role in the function of these ecosystems, particularly in the way in which biotic and abiotic processes shape agricultural productivity and...

Rural fires occur from the edge of highly developed and urbanised land through to remote and inaccessible wilderness. Ignition sources are numerous and varied, and nearly always from people. Fire impacts range from catastrophic to beneficial. Fire is an integral and important component of most...

Biosecurity is the management of risks to the economy, the environment and the community of pests and diseases entering, emerging, establishing or spreading. In Australia, biosecurity services are delivered by government and industry in partnership with farmers and the wider community as a...

ASEAN is host to seven of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. Failure of governments and their peoples to protect and conserve the region’s rich biodiversity is one of the greatest threats to the over 500 million people of ASEAN. As in other areas of the developing world, biodiversity...

Global agriculture is struggling to keep pace with increasing demands for food as human population increases and food preferences alter. Changes in temperature, greenhouse gas concentrations, precipitation patterns and radiation further challenge farmers. Insect and nematode pests, plant...

A couple of months ago a journalist from a magazine asked me to name the five most important or influential books in my life. I had to start off with a little book called Zeek the Rabbit which hooked me on reading when I was about seven or eight years old, and that left me four more slots. One...

Aquaculture is one of the most rapidly developing sectors of global food production, contributing significantly to socio-economic development by providing food security and export earnings from high-value products. The importance of the industry to the expanding world population is underscored...