The Experts

Mark Angelo is an internationally-celebrated river conservationist, writer, speaker, teacher and paddler from Burnaby, British Columbia. He is the founder and chair of both BC Rivers Day and World Rivers Day, an event now embraced by millions of people in over 100 countries. Mark was the long time head of the Fish and Wildlife program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and was appointed as the inaugural chair of the BCIT Rivers Institute before his retirement in 2011. He has been extensively involved in river restoration and conservation initiatives, both in Canada, and around the world. Mark has traveled on more than 1000 rivers in well over 100 countries, perhaps more than any other individual. Mark has received the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada (his country’s highest honour) in recognition of his river conservation efforts over the past five decades.

Robert Falls, Ph.D., R.P.Bio., has an extensive work history in the clean-tech, natural gas, forest and renewable energy sectors, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s Forest Sciences Center. Robert was presented an “Award for Innovation” by B.C. Premier Christy Clark in 2011 for his leadership role in facilitating the restoration and the protection of sensitive ecological lands in BC’s Gulf Islands using carbon values.

Robert’s first novel, “Carbon Play – Candid Observations of a Carbon Pioneer”, was introduced by Dr. Jane Goodall, and published by Rocky Mountain Books in August 2017, chronicling his far-ranging career in the resources sector. The “Top Seller” novel tackles some difficult challenges in the fields of climate mitigation and carbon management.

Robert continues to support innovative process and product development in the natural resource sector.

Michael Kustudia has been the manager of Milltown State Park since 2010. He has a B.A. in journalism and a M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana. Before joining Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, he pursued a career in the nonprofit sector, served in the Peace Corps, and worked seasonally for the National Park Service and as a river guide. Born in Germany and raised in California, Michael has spent his adult life in Montana, where his family roots stretch back to the early 1880s.

Guurrbi Tours COOKTOWN are recognised as one of Australia’s must-do experiences, and Willie Gordon’s small business has received a host of accolades, both here and overseas. Take a tour with the legendary Willie Gordon an Nugal-warra Elder and Guugu Yimithirr speaker. Willie offers wonderful insight into his culture and spirituality and has many stories that were passed onto him by his father. Willie’s magical rock art tours take you from cave to cave and depict ancient and more recent aspects of Nugal society. With Willie as your guide these rock art paintings will come to life.

Kayak Melbourne specializes in guided kayak tours in the Docklands and Downtown Melbourne. Afternoon and evening tours are available and evening tours include a unique on-water dining experience. Kayak Melbourne is a Parks Victoria licensed tour operator, using only top of the line equipment and experienced guides to ensure a safe and memorable experiences.

Tom was a quiet and humble man who worked from his home-base on Ngarrindjeri country. His family was paramount in his life and in spite of his considerable abilities and accomplishments he did not seek personal recognition or financial gain. With his loved and loving wife Aunty Ellen Trevorrow, the respected cultural weaver and educator, and his older brother George Trevorrow, he established Camp Coorong in 1985 through the Ngarrindjeri Lands and Progress Association as ‘a race relations and cultural education centre’. They were inspired by earlier Aboriginal political initiatives such as the Tent Embassy.

Camp Coorong has a strong educational and community focus and maintains an acclaimed Ngarrindjeri Cultural Heritage Museum. Many thousands of school children, university students, as well as international and local visitors have benefitted from Camp Coorong’s hospitality and unique pedagogy.

David James Molden currently works at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. David is a research and development specialist working on mountains, natural resources management, and water management.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan – and based in Kathmandu, Nepal. ICIMOD aims to assist mountain people adapt to pressures of climate change and globalization.

Professor Jamie Pittock teaches courses on environment and society (ENVS1001/6101) and climate change vulnerability and adaptation (ENVS8003 & ENVS8013). He co-convenes ANU’s Masters of Climate Change program. Jamie’s research focusses on environmental governance, climate change adaptation, energy and sustainable management of water. Jamie manages a research projects on irrigation in Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe) and on energy and food in the Mekong region. Jamie’s PhD examined integration between management of freshwater ecosystems and responses to climate change, involving case studies from nine countries.

Prior to joining ANU, Jamie worked for WWF International as Director of their Global Freshwater Program on conservation of wetlands, water use in agriculture, and river basin management. He worked for WWF Australia on: national environmental laws; conservation of threatened biodiversity; management of invasive species; and measures to support Indigenous and private conservation land managers. He also worked in the Northern Territory and in Victoria.

Jamie is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and the World Commission on Protected Areas, serves on the Advisory Board of The Nature Conservancy Australia and the public fund of Water Stewardship Asia-Pacific, and chairs the Eminent Scientists Group of WWF Australia. Jamie is an editor of Regional Environmental Change, Frontiers – Freshwater Science, and Ecosystem Services.

Major Sumner AM is a world renown performer and cultural ambassador of Ngarrindjeri arts, crafts, martial arts and traditional culture. His work spans performance, traditional dance and song, cultural advice, and arts and crafts, such as wood carving, and martial arts techniques using his handcrafted traditional shields, clubs, boomerangs and spears. He is a strong supporter of innovative art and has featured in many media productions and cultural collaborations.

In 2011, Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner crafted the first Ngarrindjeri bark canoe [Moogy’s Yuki] on Ngarrindjeri/ Boandik country in South East SA since over 100 years, reconnecting his communities with the traditional art of canoe-building, while using a high-tech cherry picker to get up the tree. He is constantly reminding his audience to consider that Ngarrindjeri culture is a living culture, spanning thousands of years.

In 2010 he initiated the inaugural Ringbalin Murrundi Rover Spirit project, reigniting the ceremonial fires along ancient trade routes of the Darling and Murray Rivers, which is continuing as an annual arts project. He was also a co-producer of the Ringbalin interactive project (2012).

Major Sumner lives and works in Adelaide and Camp Coorong, South Australia. He serves as a Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority board member, as a board member of Black Dance Australia, and as the artistic director of the Tal Kin Jeri dance group. His company performs regularly at festivals, events and community celebrations.

Rob Catchlove is a creative thinker, innovator, scientist, water industry professional, and designer. For 15 years he focused on ideas and projects that he believe make a difference to the world and to the environment. Projects and concepts that fundamentally seek to create smarter cities, more connected communities, and a sustainable environment for your kids and his.

• In Australia we use only 1% of our fresh water for drinking but the water challenge, in the driest inhabited continent on earth, is one of designing with multiple issues in mind: variability, quality, storage, extremes, environmental needs, institutional constraints and economics.
• In energy the IPCC told us that we have a carbon budget to avoid dangerous climate change: we need to burn no more than 485 trillion tonnes of carbon (which we are on track to do in just 30 years).

Specialties: future cities, strategy, water, energy, stakeholders, liveability, data, change. 

Brij Khandelwal of Agra is a well known journalist and environmentalist.^[1]

Khandelwal became a journalist after his course from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi in 1972. He has worked for various newspapers and agencies including the Times of India.^[2] He has also worked with UNI, NPA, Gemini News London, India Abroad, Everyman’s Weekly (Indian Express), and India Today. Khandelwal has edited Jan Saptahik of Lohia Trust, reporter of George Fernandes’s Pratipaksh, correspondent in Agra for Swatantra Bharat, Pioneer, Hindustan Times, and Dainik Bhaskar until 2004). He wrote mostly on developmental subjects and environment, and edited Samiksha Bharti, Newspress Weekly. He has worked in many parts of India.

He has authored two books on the environment, Towards New Environment and Taj Mahal in Pollution Cauldron: A Reporter’s Diary.

Over years he has written thousands of news stories and articles published in various newspapers and periodicals all over. He figured in a National Geographic TV channel film on the Taj Mahal. Also in BBC‘s India on Four Wheels, and CNN‘s documentary on the Yamuna and the Taj Mahal.

Khandelwal has been actively involved in saving the river Yamuna in the Braj region.

Rakesh has been involved in environmental activism since 1993. Has been extremely successful in generating mass awareness and widespread attention to the plight of Ganga at Kanpur. A tireless campaigner for Ganga, Rakesh has lectured widely both nationally and internationally to help focus attention on the urgent need to act for Ganga. As a freelance journalist, has written extensively on the issue of river pollution. Involved in environmental litigation against the state of Uttar Pradesh and Government of India and various polluting industries, several landmark judgments have been passed in his case to address the issue of pollution in the river Ganga and strengthening the Ganga Action Plan. Featured in various international documentaries and recipient of the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, through Wisdom in Action, a California based Foundation. Rakesh is also an Ashoka Fellow

Buriganga Riverkeeper Sharif Jamil is an internationally recognized leader and activist in the global environmental movement. For more than a decade he has organized civic action for environmental justice in Bangladesh through involvement in the country’s largest civil society initiative, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA). As a member and Joint Secretary of BAPA, Sharif Jamil has worked to save the country’s rivers, wetlands, forests and urban green spaces, and to protect the rights of indigenous groups whose livelihoods depend on environmental preservation in Bangladesh.

Sharif Jamil has consulted closely with the Waterkeeper Alliance starting in 2009 through attendance at regional and global meetings and conferences. In 2014, he was elected as the International Regional Representative in the Waterkeeper Council. He has networked with local community leaders along the Buriganga River, and met with civil society leaders and policymakers in Bangladesh.

In 2007 Sharif Jamil was awarded by Both ENDS with a Joke Waller Hunter Fellowship as a prospective leader in the environmental movement in developing countries. With what he has learned, he trains others and sets up programs in other areas to engage more people in saving the natural water resources of Bangladesh. He has been serving also as the Coordinator of Waterkeepers Bangladesh since June 2015.

Tom Varley was born in South Africa & raised in the Zimbabwean bush. At the age of 10 he moved to Victoria Falls, where he started spending time on the Zambezi River.

From there he naturally progressed to working as a safety kayaker & raft guide then videographer. With a professional guide for a father, Tom obtained his Learner Guide’s License at the age of 16.

He carried on river guiding on the Zambezi & the Tugela River in South Africa & then joined the British Army, where he served in The Royal Green jackets Recee Platoon for three & a half years. During his service in Bosnia Tom was responsible for most of the aerial reconnaissance photography for Nato.

In 2002 Tom left the British Army & came back to Victoria Falls to pursue one of his passions – kayaking & rafting. He began to bring his own style of filming to the rafting industry & after a couple of years of producing videos & photographs he progressed to filming & photographing wildlife & scenery all over Zimbabwe, Southern Africa & Israel.

Tom has an established production company – Victoria Falls Productions, & has worked with several international TV channels including the BBC, Discovery & National Geographic.  His coffee table book ‘The Magnificent Victoria Falls’ is available at local book shops. He is currently work on his second book for release in 2015.

Tom’s love for the Victoria Falls, the bush, wildlife & the Zambezi River is seen in every aspect of his work. 

Chas Newens Marine supplies boats and marine equipment from Commercial Boat Charters, Marine Filming and Private Charter fleet of boats. Chas Newens Marine, are able to supplement your event, project, or works, fulfilling key roles including Safety Cover for Bridge Inspections, Safety Fleets for your regatta / race, umpiring launches, and even marshalling teams.

Debbie joined Thames21 as Chief Executive in June 2005, bringing 15 years’ experience in the voluntary sector. Her work with young people’s and educational charities led to a growing interest in broader social inclusion and community development issues. Debbie lives in Putney, and is a keen boater and sailor. 

Harry Whelan is based in the ‘City of London’ and as well as running his sea kayak tour based business ‘The London Kayak Company‘ on the River Thames, also advises I.S.K.G.A on all kayak based activities for the River Thames. Harry has been guiding professionally on the River for more than twenty years now, but his sea kayaking activities do not only take place on this fast flowing and incredibly busy section of water. Harry has held both the ‘Round Britain’ & the ‘Round Ireland’ speed records at one time or another and is a very experienced and capable ‘Expedition paddler’.

Harry also started Kayaking London, another commercial enterprise that operates on the River Thames and he is often in demand for his advice and services by other users of the River.

Harry has worked as ‘Technical Advisor for the ‘London Kayakathon’ charity event as well as advising many other events on the river.

Marvin is an instructor in the Fish Wildlife and Recreation Program (FWR) at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).  At BCIT he teaches Fish Ecology and Management as well as Environmental Monitoring at the second year level.  In addition, he supervises fisheries-related studies as part of the year-long Projects course in FWR.  Marvin has had a 35 year history of working in freshwater fisheries in the province of British Columbia.  This includes stints as a consultant, in academia, with the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission and with the provincial Ministry of Environment.   Much of his work within and outside of government has focussed on stream and lake habitat-protection and restoration, including issues relating to gravel-removal from streams, lake fertilization and flow-augmentation for fluvial fishes. Marvin worked extensively on lower Fraser River white sturgeon during the 1990s as a BC fisheries program biologist and as a Director and member of the Science Committee with the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society.  At Griffith University in Brisbane, in 2010, Marvin worked with Dr. Angela Arthington and they are comparing domestic water-use issues between the metropolitan communities of Vancouver and Brisbane with an eye to better managing community-watershed stream flows. In the 1990′s he also worked on Water Use Planning flow agreements, which modified stream discharges in a number of hydro-electric projects in south-western British Columbia to great success in increasing fish numbers.  Species that he has, in particular, worked on over the years include sturgeon, kokanee, Salish suckers, coho and Chinook salmon.  He has a BSc (Honours) and an MSc from the Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, and a DPhil from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. In addition he has won a number of aquatic conservation awards including the: Murray A. Newman Award for Significant Achievement in Aquatic Conservation (1999), the B.C. Wildlife Federation Ted Barsby Trophy Conservationist of the Year (2008), the Canadian Wildlife Federation Roland Michener Conservation Award (2010), and the Totem Fly Fishers Roderick Haig-Brown Conservation Award (2012).