Celebrating 25 Years of Regional NRM
The 9th National Natural Resource Management Knowledge Conference, held September 8–12 in Cairns, marked a significant milestone, 25 years since Australia adopted the regional natural&...
Tropical North Queensland Drought Hub (TNQDH) Knowledge Broker Karen George representing the hub at the Australian Meteorolgical Oceanographic Society (AMOS) 2025 Conference in Cairns recently, sharing her codesign insights with weather, climate, and ocean science leaders from across the country.
Karen was invited to co-present by Dr Yuwan Malakar, CSIRO Research Scientist to talk on the work she has been delivering within the horticulture industry over the past five years, highlighting how climate tools can support practical decisionmaking on the ground and the progression to the co-design of ‘train the trainer’ materials. Karen said, “Through my role as Knowledge Broker, it excites me to continue enabling industry and the community to use climate tools to aid decision-making.”
Yuwan, has spent the past few years researching ‘train the trainer’ design for the Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) My Climate View tool, helping industry trainers bring the tool into practical action via Farm Business Resilience Planning. Karen has co-designed and delivered Climate Tools workshops and resources to industry and trainers and piloted ‘train the trainer’ workshops across Far North Queensland whilst previously managing the Farm Business Resilience Program for Queensland’s horticulture industry. Yuwan’s research has been aiding Farm Business Resilience facilitators in integrating climate tools into their programs to support growers with confident, climate-smart decisions.
“It’s also great to see other Future Drought Funded programs like the Farm Business Resilience Program embed climate tools into the Farm Business Resilience plans,” Karen added. The AMOS Conference was a fantastic opportunity to share how Future Drought Fund initiatives are helping industry embrace climate tools while connecting with the broader climate science community on how to support resilience across agriculture and regional communities.
Image: Dr Karen George and Dr Yuwan Malakar. Credit: E.Harrington
JULY 2025