REGISTRATION BROCHURE - Australian Water Association

KEYNOTE
SPEAKERS
Karl Falkenberg
Director General of the Environment, European Commission
Economist and Journalist
Germany
Karl Falkenberg has a long experience as a negotiator in the European
Commission. He started his career in the Commission as textiles negotiator,
has dealt with international fisheries issues and since 1985 with the GATT.
In 1990, he served as foreign policy advisor to EU President Jacques
Delors, with particular focus on the German unification process. He was
involved in the Uruguay Round negotiations and has been negotiating the
telecommunications and financial services agreements in WTO. From 1997
to December 2000 he was in charge of the coordination of all WTO issues.
In 2001 he was appointed Director in charge of sectoral trade policies and
bilateral trade relations with North America, Japan, the Mediterranean area
and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and in 2002 Director for
Free trade agreements, Agricultural trade questions, ACP. From 2005 to 2008
he coordinated all bilateral trade policies as Deputy Director General. In
January 2009, he took up the position of Director General of the Environment,
covering the EU’s environmental policy in both its domestic and international
dimensions. Karl Falkenberg is a trained economist and journalist.
Hugh Mackay
Social Researcher
Australia
Hugh Mackay is a psychologist, social researcher and novelist. He is the
author of thirteen books, including six bestsellers. His latest book is What
Makes Us Tick? The Ten Desires That Drive Us.
In recognition of his pioneering work in social research, Hugh has been
awarded honorary doctorates by Charles Sturt, Macquarie, NSW and
Western Sydney Universities. In 2004, he received the University of Sydney’s
alumni award for community service.
Hugh is an Honorary Professor of Social Science at the University of
Wollongong, a former deputy chairman of the Australia Council, a former
chairman of trustees of Sydney Grammar School, and was the inaugural
chairman of the ACT government’s Community Inclusion Board. He has been a
newspaper columnist for over 25 years, and is a frequent guest on ABC radio.
Chloe Munro
Chair, National Water Commission
Australia
Ms Munro was appointed Chair of the National Water Commission in May 2011 bringing
strong commercial skills and expertise in public policy and corporate finance, drawing on
public and private sector experience in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
She is also the independent non-executive chairman of AquaSure, the consortium building
Victoria’s desalination plant and a non-executive director of Hydro Tasmania. Until July 2009,
Ms Munro was an executive director at Telstra. She held leadership positions in human
resources, business operations, information technology, public policy and communications
and customer service.
Serving in the Victorian public sector between September 1996 and February 2004, Ms
Munro held the positions of Secretary of the Department of Primary Industries, Secretary
of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Deputy Secretary in the
Department of Treasury and Finance.
She has been a member of the board of Food Science Australia and a commissioner and
deputy president of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission.
Ms Munro holds master’s degrees in mathematics and philosophy from Cambridge University
and in business administration from Westminster University. She is a national and Victorian
Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia and was awarded a Centenary
Medal for outstanding contribution to public administration in 2001.
Sunita Narain
Director General, Indian Centre for Science and Environment Writer
and Environmentalist
India
Sunita Narain has been with the Indian Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) since
1982. She is currently the director general of the Centre and the director of the Society for
Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth.
She is a writer and environmentalist, who uses knowledge for change. In 2005, and again in
2008 and 2009, she was included by US journal Foreign Policy as one of the world’s 100
public intellectuals. In 2005 she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government. She
has also received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its policy
influence in building paradigms for community based water management. In 2005, she also
chaired the Tiger Task Force at the direction of the Prime Minister, to evolve an action plan for
conservation in the country after the loss of tigers in Sariska. She advocated solutions to build
a coexistence agenda with local communities so that benefits of conservation could be shared
and the future secured. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change.
As well as the National Ganga River Basin Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, set up to
implement strategies for cleaning the river.
Cancelled
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