Bob Pressey

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  • Professor, Conservation Planning, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Land clearing rates in Queensland tripled since 2010. Martin Taylor

Queensland land clearing is undermining Australia’s environmental progress

Martine Maron, The University of Queensland; Bill Laurance, James Cook University; Bob Pressey, James Cook University; Carla P. Catterall, Griffith University; Clive McAlpine, The University of Queensland; Hugh Possingham, The University of Queensland; James Watson, The University of Queensland; Jonathan Rhodes, The University of Queensland; Kerrie Wilson, The University of Queensland, and Marc Hockings, The University of Queensland

Land clearing in Queensland has tripled in the past five years.
The Curtis Island gas precinct is one of the biggest developments along the Great Barrier Reef coast. AAP Image/Greenpeace

Development and the Reef: the rules have been lax for too long

Bob Pressey, James Cook University; Alana Grech, Macquarie University; Jon C. Day, James Cook University, and Marcus Sheaves, James Cook University

The coast alongside the Great Barrier Reef is home to ports, farms, holiday resorts, and more than a million people. It all puts pressure on the Reef, and it’s time for some firms plans to manage it.
A diver on the Great Barrier Reef with a pair of Barrier Reef Anemonefish – cousins of the clown fish made famous in the film “Finding Nemo”. Flickr/Richard Ling

Six things Queensland’s next government must do to save the Great Barrier Reef

Bob Pressey, James Cook University; Alana Grech, Macquarie University; Jon Brodie, James Cook University, and Jon C. Day, James Cook University

The Great Barrier Reef is a national and global icon, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981. Since then, it’s become apparent that this vast array of marine ecosystems – stretching along 2,300 kilometres…
The Bramble Cay melomys - the latest in a long line of extinct Australian mammals. Queensland Government

Another Australian animal slips away to extinction

Milena Kim, James Cook University and Bob Pressey, James Cook University

Last July, the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, announced the appointment of Gregory Andrews as Australia’s first Threatened Species Commissioner. His mission: to help avert the extinction of a…
Kakadu National Park is Australia’s largest – but we need to make sure parks are actually protecting wildlife from threats. Rita Willaert/Flickr

We have more parks than ever, so why is wildlife still vanishing?

Bob Pressey, James Cook University and Euan Ritchie, Deakin University

While we can never know for sure, an extraordinary number of animals and plants are threatened with extinction — up to a third of all mammals and over a tenth of all birds. And the problem is getting worse…
Flying over Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Kiyo/Flickr

The plan to save the Great Barrier Reef is destined to fail unless …

Jon C. Day, James Cook University; Bob Pressey, James Cook University; Jon Brodie, James Cook University, and Terry Hughes, James Cook University

The Great Barrier Reef is in trouble, and a draft government plan to ensure its survival does not go far enough. A number of submissions including those from the Australian Academy of Science and Environmental…
Port developments shouldn’t be assessed individually. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

It all adds up: port development on the Great Barrier Reef

Alana Grech, Macquarie University; Bob Pressey, James Cook University, and Rob Coles, James Cook University

The Queensland and Australian government’s draft strategic assessment of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has been released today. The strategic assessment was prompted by the 2012 UNESCO-IUCN…
Crown of Thorns is one threat on the reef, but it’s not the only threat. Flickr/Nemo's great uncle

Should offsets fund the Coalition’s reef plan?

Melissa Walsh, James Cook University; Bob Pressey, James Cook University, and Natalie Stoeckl, James Cook University

On Monday, the Coalition announced its plan for the Great Barrier Reef, including a A$40m trust-fund to target threats to the Reef such as Crown of Thorns starfish and runoff from agriculture. The promises…
Are there viable investment alternatives to funding coal and energy projects in the Great Barrier Reef region? AAP

Can banks make a profit by investing in the Great Barrier Reef?

Melissa Walsh, James Cook University and Bob Pressey, James Cook University

Earlier this month, Australia’s Big Four banks copped a serve over their support of the coal and gas extraction industries, focusing attention on the ways large banks’ investment decisions can put the…
Australia’s marine parks are all show, no substance, so why are conservation groups so supportive? AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Australia’s new marine protected areas: why they won’t work

Bob Pressey, James Cook University

On land and in the sea, we’re losing sight of what nature conservation is about. We’ve become dangerously focused on protected areas, but rarely consider what they’re supposed to achieve. One result is…

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