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Colin Hunt

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Honorary Fellow in Economics, The University of Queensland

Dr Colin Hunt passed away on 27 December 2013.

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Dr Colin Hunt has been researching and publishing on climate change, natural resource protection and ecological management for over 20 years. His research takes a multi-disciplinary approach with a strong focus on economics. He now has over 70 publications to his name, including 7 books.

A global approach has been taken in investigating the role of forestry and forests, and markets for sequestered carbon in mitigating climate change.

In Asia, prospects for mitigating greenhouse emissions in fast-growing economies has been published; as have the potential benefits and costs of reducing deforestation (REDD) and logging in PNG and Indonesia.

In Australia, a focus on research has been the prospects for meeting Australia's greenhouse targets - given the relative costs of renewable energy and the lack of global markets for carbon. Implications of coal seam gas extraction have also been publicised.

He has wide work experience in South Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific. For four years he was Principal Economist at Papua New Guinea's National Research Institute; where he undertook research in forestry and fisheries. For four years he taught in the graduate programme in the National Centre for Development Studies at the Australian National University. He currently teaches the economics of sustainable fisheries part-time at the University of Queensland. His past fisheries management experience includes the position of Executive Director of the South Australian Fishing Industry Council (SAFIC).

His involvement in management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area goes back 20 years, when he was a member of the stakeholder team that authored the Reef's 25 Year Strategic Plan. His recent published research has investigated the benefits and costs of the Coral Sea Marine Reserve, and the conflict between economic development and marine and coastal ecosystems. See, for example: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X12002539.

In a voluntary capacity he has served as a director of Far North Queensland Natural Resource Management (now Terrain NRM) and a vice president of Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands Inc. (TREAT).

He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Master of Agricultural Economics, and his PhD is in social sciences. Since 2008 he has held the position of Fellow in Economics at the University of Queensland.

Experience

  • –present
    Visiting Fellow in Economics UQ; Visting Fellow Griffith Asia Institute, The University of Queensland; Griffith University

Education

  •  
    Nottingham University, Bachelor of Science
  • 1994 
    Flinders University, PhD/Social Sciences
  • 1972 
    Melbourne University, Master of Aricultural Economics

Publications

  • 2013
    Benefits and opportunity costs of Australia's Coral Sea marine protected area: A precautionary tale, Marine Policy, 3 (2013):352-360
  • 2011
    Methodologies for REDD reporting and decision-making, in R. J. Keenan, S. Saulei, J. C .Fox, and C. L. Brack, editors. Native forest management in PNG
  • 2011
    Greenhouse gas abatement in Asia: Imperatives, incentives and equity, in M. Hossain and A. Selvanathan, editors, Climate change and growth in Asia, Edward Elgar, Cheltenh
  • 2011
    Prospects for Meeting Australia’s 2020 Carbon Targets, Economic Analysis and Policy, 41(1): 6-11.
  • 2011
    Carbon Sinks and Climate Change: forests in the fight against global warming , Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 255. UK, (Paperback). ISBN 978 0 85793 385 0.
  • 2010
    Compensating for the costs of reducing deforestation in Papua New Guinea, Pacific Economic Bulletin, 25(3): 64-88.
  • 2010
    The costs of reducing deforestation in Indonesia, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 46 (20): 187-192.
  • 2009
    The hidden costs of forestry offsets, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 14: 107:120.
  • 2009
    Economic impacts of creating and extending marine protected areas: The case of rezoning the GBR, in N. McManus and D. Bellinghouse, editors, Fisheries: management, economics and perspectives, Nova
  • 2008
    Economy and ecology of emerging markets and credits for bio-sequestered carbon in northern Australia, Ecological Economics, 66: 309-318.

Research Areas

  • Natural Resource Management (050209)
  • Ecological Economics (149902)
  • Applied Economics Not Elsewhere Classified (140299)