Diane Jarvis
James Cook University

Associate Professor Diane Jarvis

Northern node leader

Associate Professor, James Cook University

See Diane’s full research profile here.

Bio

Associate Professor Jarvis is an environmental economist with an emerging record of research accomplishments in the study of social and economic aspects of environmental/natural resource management.

Her work reflects the complex and reciprocal nature of the people-environment relationship, including exploring benefits the natural environment (terrestrial and marine) provides to human wellbeing (ecosystem services), and the (positive and negative) impacts that human activity has on the natural environment, in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous contexts.

Dr Jarvis works collaboratively with Indigenous groups and organisations across northern Australia (Qld, NT and WA) and with other research institutions to meet the research needs of the Federal government (DCCEEW, NIAA) and Queensland government (DES).

Research outputs linked to policy change and decision-making

• Evaluation of the Indigenous Protected Areas Program – The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) are overseeing an evaluation of the Indigenous Protected Areas Program, which has been helping Indigenous communities voluntarily dedicate their land or sea country as IPAs since 1997. The evaluation is being led by Ninti One, supported by Dr Jarvis and researchers from CSIRO, and will assess the extent to which program objectives and associated environmental, cultural, social and economic outcomes are being achieved. It will also guide continuous improvement in future program design.
• Valuing Indigenous Cultural Connections – designed to assist DCCEEW with their development of environmental economic accounting – ecosystem accounting, this NESP funded research investigated how to best acknowledge Indigenous cultural connections within an ecosystem services accounting framework.
• Sustainable Use and Benefits of the Great Barrier Reef – in this project Dr Jarvis is working collaboratively with CSIRO and CQU, and with research end-user GBRMPA, so design a monitoring program to assist their management of the Reef and achieve progress towards Reef 2050 targets.
• Multiple benefits and knowledge systems of Indigenous Land Management Programs (ILMPs) – Economic perspective and decision-making – this NESP funded research (led by Prof Natalie Stoeckl) focused on the diverse and complex socio-economic benefits of ILSMPs, confirming their significance and identifying design characteristics that enhance different benefits to help Indigenous communities and policy-makers in future development of ILSMPs.

Current academic employment and positions

• 2019–present: Associate Professor, Economic, James Cook University
• 2016–2019: Research fellow, Tropical Landscapes Joint Venture, CSIRO/James Cook University

Highest qualification

• 2016: PhD, James Cook University.

Major prizes, medals and honours

• 2021 – Member of the CSIRO led team whose work on the Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment won the R&D Excellence Award at the Australian Water Award
• 2018 – Winner Early Career Researcher category, James Cook University, 3MT competition, for presentation on economic co-benefits arising from Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs.

My Projects

Completed project