2022 Charles Fleming Award winner Professor Ann Brower will discuss her work to drive changes to high country land tenure review processes that have helped protect 5% of Aotearoa New Zealand’s landmass.

Professor Ann Brower was awarded the Charles Fleming Award for Environmental Achievement in 2022 by Royal Society Te Apārangi for pioneering interdisciplinary research that challenged the foundations of high-country tenure review. Her work was the catalyst of legislative reform to improve the conservation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s landscapes and biodiversity.

Her work has now protected 5% of New Zealand's landmass. Ann's legacy of science-led legislative change will continue to protect the ecological integrity of the South Island high country.

In her Fleming Lecture, Ann will talk how she, and others, are changing the world one datapoint at a time by “speaking truth to power” to challenge the status quo. She will talk about the legislative changes her datapoints inspired in the South Island high-country and the iconic braided rivers of Aotearoa.

About the speaker

Professor Ann Brower teaches environmental science and geography at the University of Canterbury. Using economics, law, politics, and ecology, her research improves mechanisms for evaluating and protecting habitats and landscapes.

In 2022 the University of Canterbury awarded her Innovation Medal for her research impact in policy and regulation at the national level. In 2018 Universities New Zealand awarded her the Critic and Conscience of Society Award for her work to change the nation’s Building Act.

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