Dr John Williams

		Former Chief CSIRO Land and Water (retired March 2004)
		CSIRO Land and Water GPO Box 1666 Canberra ACT 2601 Email: John Williams

Dr John Williams retired from CSIRO in March 2004, having been Chief of CSIRO Land and Water since November 2001.

A long-time advocate of the need for Australia to adopt land use practices that are both productive and sustainable in terms of resource use and impact on the environment, John has contributed to seminal works on sustainable agriculture in Australia, and has published extensively on the nature of agriculture as part of the natural ecosystem. His experience and background in agriculture production and its environmental impact, particularly of salinity and erosion, coupled with his strong record in coordination and delivery, have positioned him to make a significant contribution to the national debate on natural resource management and land use policy in Australia.

Dr Williams is a member of the Wentworth Group - a group of eleven Australian scientists who have contributed scientific leadership to the national debate on water resources and landscape management.

Two Sydney Water Supply Catchment Audits completed by Dr Williams in 1999 and 2001 highlighted the need for effective long-term planning and on-ground management of the catchment to address threats to water quality.

John represented CSIRO in the preparation and presentation of material to the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council on "Sustaining the Agricultural Resource Base" (1995) and "Dryland Salinity and its Impact on Rural Communities and the Australian Landscape" (1998).

Dr Williams was a member of the committee that prepared "Sustainable Agriculture"- a report prepared for the Standing Committee on Agriculture in 1989. He was, with Dr Ann Hamblin, responsible for the first document that established a set of indicators for sustainable agriculture, which were subsequently developed and evaluated by SCARM. He also steered the development of the agro-ecological zones of Australia for the Ecological Sustainable Development Report on Agriculture in 1990, which were adopted by SCARM for use in their subsequent work.

As the coordinator of the CSIRO Multi-Divisional Program "Dryland Farming Systems for Catchment Care", John was responsible for the production of:

• Indicators of catchment health (Joe Walker and Doug Reuter),
• Directory of models for farm production and catchment processes (Rosemary Hook),
• Farming action - catchment reaction (John Williams, Rosemary Hook, and Hester Gascoigne) which is a major work on farming and its impact on the natural environment.

In association with Dr Phil Price, Dr Williams led the LWRRDC/CSIRO Program "Redesign of Australian Plant Production Systems" which sought to address the fundamental causes of land degradation under current agricultural practice.

John Williams was raised on a grazing property on the southern tablelands of New South Wales. He was educated at the University of Sydney where he graduated with a first class honours degree in Agricultural Science and doctorate in soil physics and hydrology (1968.) After a seven-year period of overseas research and academic work, John joined CSIRO in Townsville, and spent the next 16 years working on hydrology of tropical landscapes and on a range of land management problems, including salinity and soil erosion in the Burdekin catchment.

Online Resources and Publications

• Can Australia overcome its water scarcity problems? Colin Chartres and John Williams. Journal of Developments in Sustainable Agriculture 1:17-24 (2006)
• Wealth from Water: A National Perspective (PDF, 216 kB) December 2003
  A presentation to the Wealth from Water Conference 14 March 2003 held at Wagga Wagga, NSW
• "Science visionary at the heart of water reform" (PDF, 26 kB)
  This article first appeared in the Canberra Times Wednesday 22/10/2003 Supplements Page 7. Written by Rosslyn Beeby
• Land use and natural ecosystems: A revolution in land use is the key to a sustainable landscape. John Williams and Denis A Saunders. Chapter prepared for 'In Search of Sustainability' conference booklet. (PDF, 160 kB) September 2003
• Land use and sustainable ecosystems. "In Search of Sustainability" conference - Conference summary communiqué, August 2003 (PDF, 59 kB)
• Landcare Farming, Securing the Future for Australian Agriculture - a report released for National Landcare Week 15 August 2003 (PDF, 541 kB)
• Blueprint for a National Water Plan -a report from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists 31 July 2003 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
• "Can we myth-proof Australia?" Article in Australasian Science Vol 24, No1 Jan/Feb 2003 (PDF, 306 kB)
• A New Model for Landscape Conservation in New South Wales - Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists Report to Premier Carr Feb 2003 (PDF, 56 kB)
• Blueprint for a Living Continent - A report from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists Nov 2002 (PDF, 135 kB)
• Ch 21 Dryland Salinisation: A Challenge for Land and Water Management in the Australian Landscape. John Williams, Glen R. Walker and Tom J. Hatton. Agricultural Hydrology and Water Quality, 2002. Eds PM Haygarth and SC Jarvis, pp457-475 (PDF, 102 kB)
• Farming Without Harming in an Old, Flat, Salty Landscape
• Presentation to Queensland Landcare and Catchment Management Conference in Goodiwindi, Queensland (PowerPoint file. 1.3 MB)
• A Revolution in Land Use: Emerging Land Use Systems for Managing Dryland Salinity Online
  (PDF, 1.5 MB)
  
• Effectiveness of Current Farming Systems in the Control of Dryland Salinity Online
  (PDF, 1.0 MB)
• Redesign of plant production systems for Australian landscapes (Word, 250 kB)

Published Work