The Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, has approved funding of up to $68.5 million for five new biodiversity research hubs over the next four years  under the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program (NERP).

Within each hub, researchers from a number of institutions and disciplines will work with environmental managers, policy developers, community groups and industry across Australia to tackle Australia's priority environmental issues.

The research hubs are as follows:

  • Professor Hugh Possingham of the University of Queensland, with funding up to $11 million, will lead a terrestrial hub to provide research on halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity across the nation.
  • Professor Ted LeFroy of the University of Tasmania, with funding of up to $6 million, will lead a terrestrial research hub that supports regional biodiversity planning.
  • Professor Nic Bax of the University of Tasmania, with funding of up to $11 million will lead a marine hub focussing on the tools environmental managers need to ensure the sustainable management of Australia's marine assets.
  • Professor Michael Douglas of Charles Darwin University, with funding of up to $14.7 million, will lead a northern Australia hub which will undertake critical biodiversity research in northern Australia to address issues such as climate change and future sustainable development across the north.
  • A research hub to focus on the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and tropical rainforests, with funding of up to $25.8 million. Eight lead researchers from four research institutions (James Cook University, Australian Institute of Marine Science, CSIRO and the University of Queensland) will be appointed to form a research team to work with regional stakeholders in tropical North Queensland, to address issues of development, climate change and effective management.