Associate Professor Peter Waterman RFD

Peter holds an MSc, BA, DipSocSc, GradDip Urban Planning, Cert Teaching. A/Prof. Waterman has professional qualifications in geography, social science, urban planning and environmental management. Over the past 45 years he has gained professional experience as a teacher, military officer, consultant, officer of government, and an academic.

In 1970, A/Prof. Waterman co-founded one of the first environmental consultancy companies in Australia. Since then he has provided a wide range of consultant services across the environment and land use planning fields for public and private sector clients in Australia and overseas. For over 20 years, he has worked as an environmental planner on the development and demonstration of strategic and operational ways for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into the delivery of infrastructure, urban and regional plans, and natural resources management investments. Project work has been undertaken for all spheres of Australian government, non-government organizations and community bodies, and public and private enterprises.

Since 1999, A/Prof. Waterman has been involved with the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (ERISS) working on the establishment of a coastal monitoring in the Alligator River Region. Over the past decade, A/Prof. Waterman has been undertaking project work on climatic and related environmental changes in Pacific Island countries (eg, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia), working with major donor organizations (World Bank, Asia Development Bank and the UNDP) on reviewing capacity building and funding mechanisms for national reporting to the UNFCCC and adaptation projects.

A/Prof. Waterman took up a position at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2003. In his capacity as Coordinator of Climate Change, Coasts and Catchments, he has been responsible for the development of accredited professional development programs that lead to graduate certificates, graduate diplomas and masters degrees in Climate Change Adaptation, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Environmental Change Management.

For the past six years A/Prof. Waterman has been a member of the Management Committee of the Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia (SEGRA) Conference.