CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems

• Background
• What we do
• How we operate
• Collaboration
• Where we are
• Other facilities

Background

CSIRO's Sustainable Ecosystems division (CSE) undertakes research to enable:

• ecosystems that support healthy rural, regional and urban communities
• landscapes that sustain viable enterprises
• management that allows biodiversity to prosper.

We aim to understand the connections between natural, agricultural, industrial and urban ecosystems as well as economic and social processes. 

We also aim to build effective partnerships to improve our understanding of sustainability and the management and policy used to achieve sustainability.

What we do

Our research programs are:

• Tropical and Arid Landscapes
• Agriculture and Forest Ecosystems
• Social and Economic Sciences
• Urban Systems.

CSE provides research capability to 23 research themes in 11 research portfolios in CSIRO.

Over 80 per cent of our research capability is deployed to the following research portfolios:

• Climate Adaptation Flagship
• Sustainable Agriculture Flagship
• Building Resilient Australian Biodiversity Assets.

We also contribute to:

• Water for a Healthy Country Flagship
• Energy Transformed Flagship
• Minerals Down Under Flagship
• Wealth from Oceans Flagship
• other Divisional research portfolios.
  

CSE provides client services in such disciplines as:

• production systems modelling
• natural resource management
• ecological analysis
• mine site rehabilitation advice
• community and regional planning
• sustainable urban infrastructure and design.

Our science addresses the needs of community, government and industry.

How we operate

For CSE, sustainability is central to not just our research but to all elements of how we operate. CSE's Sustainability Charter outlines what sustainability means to us by articulating our values and beliefs and how they translate into practice.

Collaboration

Promoting innovative partnerships is one of our key goals and CSE works collaboratively with many research institutes nationally and internationally.

Where we are

Our staff are based at the following 13 CSIRO laboratories:

• Urrbrae Laboratory in Adelaide, South Australia
• Alice Springs Laboratory, Northern Territory
• Atherton Laboratory, Queensland
• Queensland Bioscience Precinct (QBP) in Brisbane, Queensland
• Gungahlin Homestead in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
• Darwin Laboratory in Darwin, Northern Territory
• Highett Laboratory in Melbourne, Victoria
• Clayton Laboratory in Melbourne, Victoria
• Floreat Laboratory in Perth, Western Australia
• North Ryde offices in Sydney, New South Wales
• Davies Laboratory in Townsville, Queensland
• Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit (APSRU) Offices in Toowoomba, Queensland.

We also have staff co-located with partner research organisations in the:

• Australian Tropical Forest Institute, Cairns, Queensland
• Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, University of Tasmania in Hobart, Tasmania.

Other facilities

CSE is also the host division for the Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC), the official Commonwealth collection of Australian land vertebrates covering:

• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles.

The ANWC museum is located at the Gungahlin Homestead laboratories in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

Discover more about our work at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Location

Related Links

• Australian National Wildlife Collection
• CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
• Desert Knowledge CRC [external link]
• Australian Tropical Forest Institute [external link]
• CRC for Construction Innovation [external link]
• CRC for Australian Weed Management [external link]

• Sustainable regional development
• Healthy terrestrial ecosystems
• Dr Daniel Walker: sustainable natural resource management
• Mr Allen Kearns: international experience and practical expertise
• Sustainability overview
• CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Sustainability Report