The environment needs fixes now, says new director

Environmental problems urgently require solutions, because our wellbeing depends on it, says Professor Dan Tompkins, the new director of the Centre for Climate, Biodiversity and Society, Ngā Ara Whetū, at the University of Auckland.

“Nature supports us in more ways than just food and housing – it’s food for the soul, but it’s also a finite resource that’s easier to damage than restore.

“We urgently need to find better ways to protect and restore the environment, not just for its sake, but for our sake.

“The environment and human society are interdependent: Nature shapes us, just as much as we shape it,” says Tompkins.

A former Honorary Professor of Zoology at the University of Otago, he comes to the top job at Ngā Ara Whetū from a role as science director at Predator Free 2050.

The 55-year-old brings a blend of academic knowledge and practical know-how to his new position.

“All through my career, I’ve been driven by the need for better ways to improve the environment and society.

“Sometimes, I’ve felt frustrated that research and knowledge hasn’t been used as well as it could be, so my focus is on bringing all the elements together to maximise the impact that research can have on the ground.”

Shifting with his family from Dunedin to Auckland is a big move, but Tompkins says the new role was “something I passionately wanted to do”.

Ngā Ara Whetū harnesses the expertise of academics across the University, so it offers scope to develop the complex solutions that are needed to look after the environment – and humans, he says.

Tompkins’ childhood home among the relatively unspoilt hills, lakes and rivers of Derbyshire, England, instilled a deep appreciation for the natural world, he says.

That inspired him to complete an honours degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University in 1992, and a doctorate in Zoology at the University of Oxford in 1996.

His doctoral research led him to the rainforests of Borneo, where a tiny bird, the swiftlet, was under threat, due to commercial harvesting of its nests for a traditional Chinese remedy, bird’s nest soup.

“My field site was a 70-metre-high limestone cavern, with about two million birds and four million bats.

“The floor was like an Indiana Jones movie, with cockroaches, rat snakes and giant poisonous centipedes.”

During his time in Borneo, he recommended ways to harvest the swiftlets’ nests more sustainably.

Since then, his research has helped identify drivers of diseases affecting native wildlife, predict the impacts of climate change on conservation management in New Zealand, and support global policy development on new environmental technologies.

In 2016, Tompkins became involved in the project he is most proud of so far – helping eradicate mammalian predators across more than 100,000 hectares of New Zealand.

“It took courage to do things differently and use a bottom-up approach to research and conservation.

“I was focused on the hurdles people were facing on the ground and trying to empower them to have the greatest impact.

“Predator Free 2050 has already made a huge difference – the native birds started coming back within a few years.”

In his new role, Tompkins is similarly focused on bringing together academic expertise, mātauranga Māori, and community and sector insights to solve the environmental problems that urgently need to be addressed.

“Research has to be linked to making a critical difference,” he says.

Associate Professor Maria Armoudian and Professor Jacqueline Beggs have both resigned from their positions as Ngā Ara Whetū co-directors, but remain with the University.