Allan Dale is a Professor of Tropical Regional Development at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University and the Chief Scientist for the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA). Allan is also a University Fellow with Charles Darwin University’s Northern Institute and has a strong interest in integrated societal governance, with a particular focus across the tropical world, northern Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. He leads JCU’s contributions to Queensland’s Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE) and the Clean Growth Choices Program, the Human Dimensions of the GBR, the Northern Development agenda and emerging approaches to Collective Impact.

He has both extensive research and policy expertise in building strong societal governance systems, but particularly those related to regional economic development, social development and natural resource management. Allan is a member of the Federal Governments's  Advisory Group on the Northern Australia Agenda and he was previously the Chair of Regional Development Australia Far North Queensland and Torres Strait Inc. and the CEO of Terrain NRM. He has held executive and management roles within the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (General Manager - Strategic Policy) and the Department of Community Services (Manager - Social Impact Assessment Unit). He also has global experience in respect to the social impact assessment of development. Having started his career as an agricultural scientist, Allan’s doctoral work explored rural development in remote Indigenous communities and he has long working relationships with Traditional Owner groups throughout northern Australia. Having grown up north of Cairns, after returning to Far North Queensland in 2005, Allan has spent the last 10 year’s in the rural community of Babinda and he now resides in the Speewah area west of Kuranda.. In 2015, Allan gave a TEDxJCUCairns talk which you can view HERE

 

Interests

Research

• Regional and natural resource policy/ governance systems
• Environmental and social impact assessment
• Indigenous/rural community development
• Corporate/organization development
• Lecturing/training in governance theory and planning systems
• Land assessment and rehabilitation
• Governance for the management of terrestrial carbon and greenhouse gas abatement
• Climate change adaptation and disaster management

Experience

• 2020 to present - Member of the Advisory Group on the Northern Australia Agenda, Commonwealth Government
• 2017 to present - QLD Plan Ambassador, QLD Government
• 2015 to present - Great Barrier Reef Water Science Taskforce, QLD Government
• 2010 to present - Research Leader - Tropical Regional Development, The Cairns Institute (James Cook University, Cairns)
• 2010 to 2017 - Chair, Regional Development Australia FNQ&TS
• 2005 to 2010 - CEO, Wet Tropics Regional Natural Resource Management Board (Cairns)
• 2001 to 2005 - General Manager of Resource Policy, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines
• 1996 to 2001 - Senior Scientist, Regional Planning, CSIRO - Tropical Agriculture
• 1993 to 1996 - Manager, Social Impact Assessment Unit, Queensland Department of Family Services, Aboriginal and Islander Affairs

Research Disciplines

• Environmental management (4104)

Memberships

• Reef and Rainforest Research Corporation (Board Member)
• Mulgrave Aquifer Community Reference Panel (Independent Chair)
• Environmental Institute of Australia (Member)
• International Association of Impact Assessment (Member)
• 2016 - Queensland Plan Ambassadors Council (Ambassador)
• 2015 to 2016 - QLD Government Great Barrier Reef Water Science Taskforce (Member)

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Sari D, Margules C, Lim H, Widyatmaka F, sayer J, Dale A and MacGregor C (2021) Evaluating policy coherence: a case study of peatland forests on the Kampar Peninsula landscape, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 105, Article: 105396, DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105396.
• Dale A, Vella K, Ryan S, Broderick K, Hill R, Potts R and Brewer T (2020) Governing community-based natural resource management in Australia: international implications. Land, 9 (7), Article: 234, DOI:10.3390/land9070234.
• Dale A (2018) From conflict to collaboration: can better governance systems facilitate the sustainable development of the northern pastoral industry, communities and landscapes? Rangeland Journal, 40 (4), pp. 331-340, DOI:10.1071/RJ18010.
• Dale A, Vella K, Gooch M, Potts R, Pressey R, Brodie J and Eberhard R (2018) Avoiding implementation failure in catchment landscapes: a case study in governance of the Great Barrier Reef. Environmental Management, 62, pp. 70-81, DOI:10.1007/s00267-017-0932-2.
• Adams V, Álvarez-Romero J, Capon S, Crowley G, Dale A, Kennard M, Douglas M and Pressey R (2017) Making time for space: the critical role of spatial planning in adapting natural resource management to climate change. Environmental Science & Policy, 74, pp. 57-67, DOI:10.1016/j.envsci.2017.05.003.
• Gooch M, Curnock M, Dale A, Gibson J, Hill R, Marshall N, Molloy F and Vella K (2017) Assessment and promotion of the Great Barrier Reef's human dimensions through collaboration. Coastal Management, 45 (6), pp. 519-537, DOI:10.1080/08920753.2017.1373455.
• Dale A, Vella K, Pressey R, Brodie J, Gooch M, Potts R and Eberhard R (2016) Risk analysis of the governance system affecting outcomes in the Great Barrier Reef. Journal of Environmental Management, 183 (Part 3), pp. 712-721, DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.09.013.

Book Chapters

• Stephens A, Opperman E and Dale A (in press) Revisiting governance systems analysis in Northern Australia: exploring critical systems thinking as a framework for engaging with multiplicity and incommensurability. In: Rethinking Northern Australia Development. ANU Press, Canberra, ACT, Australia
• Dale A, Vella K, Ruth P, Babacan H, Cottrell A, Costantini W, Hardacker M and Pert P (2020) Typical social adaptation measures in climate change planning: a tropical region case study. In: Economic Effects of Natural Disasters: theoretical foundations, methods, and tools. Elsevier, London, UK, pp. 237-260
• Brodie J, Grech A, Pressey B, Day J, Dale A, Morrison T and Wenger A (2019) The future of the Great Barrier Reef: The water quality imperative. In: Coasts and estuaries: The future. Elsevier, Kidlington, Oxon, UK, pp. 477-499
• Dale A (2018) Governing north Australian landscapes for a better future. In: Sustainable land sector development in northern Australia: Indigenous rights, aspirations, and cultural responsibilities. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, pp. 203-222
• Dale A, Ryan S and Broderick K (2017) Natural resource management as a form of multi-level governance: the impact of reform in Queensland and Tasmania. In: Multi-level Governance: Conceptual Challenges and Case Studies From Australia. ANU Press, Canberra, ACT, Australia, pp. 327-359

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ResearchOnline@JCU stores 126+ research outputs authored by Prof Allan Dale from 1992 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Auditing the Governance of Natural Resources in Indonesia (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Prescient Stewardships: Nascent cultural and ecological economies of the Wet Tropics (Masters , Primary Advisor)
• Imagine if it was done properly? Governance systems analysis of the PNG Petroleum Sector (PhD , Primary Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.