Guest: Dr. Heather Downey, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Social Policy and member of the Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems at Latrobe University, Albury Wodonga.
INTRODUCTION TO THIS EPISODE
The crucial importance of water as a resource to support the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental wellbeing of human society and the natural world cannot be overstated. This is particularly the case in Australia, the driest inhabited continent, whose water security challenges have further intensified in response to global heating and climate disruption trends. As a key, multifaceted resource, water has received far too little attention even though it is directly linked to those trends.
Within Australia, the rural agricultural sector has become something of a test bed for growing concerns over water security and fair allocation of this precious resource to a range of users. So, what might be a potential role for eco-social work practice in this contested space of rural water access and the not always successful attempts to balance the social, economic and environmental justice needs of water users?
My guest in this podcast episode, Dr. Heather Downey, is well qualified to offer some answers to this question. Amongst her many roles, Heather is Chief Investigator of research within the Many Meanings of Water for Australian Rural River Communities project and participates in the collaborative, multidisciplinary Murray Darling Water and Environment Research Program. As a regional social work academic, Heather is well positioned to examine relationships between people and the natural environment, and more specifically, in the economic, social, cultural, recreational, and environmental meaning of water for all rural residents.
Heather talks with me today about the potential of eco-social work (ESW) approaches to regional community water security, value and meaning.
INTERVIEW TALKING POINTS – with approximate time elapsed location in minutes.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE DISCUSSION
Heather Downey - profile and research outputs
GUEST AND CONTACT DETAILS:
Guest: Dr. Dr. Heather Downey
E: H.Downey@latrobe.edu.au
WEB: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/hdowney
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heather-Downey
Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE):
T 07 4639 2135 E office@hopeaustralia.org.au WEB FACEBOOK
Production:
Produced for HOPE by Andrew Nicholson E: counsel1983@gmail.com
T: +61 413979414
This episode recorded in Toowoomba, S.E. Queensland, Australia on 16th November 2021
Artwork: Daniela Dal'Castel Incidental Music: James Nicholson
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