Brooke Williams

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We are currently faced with unprecedented environmental challenges, including biodiversity loss and climate change, which negatively impact human wellbeing. In response, nations have come together to commit to global policies and participate in environmental markets aimed at addressing these issues. However, translating broadscale policies and frameworks to the local level comes with a range of often unexpected challenges. These can include a mismatch between expected and realised outcomes, agricultural displacement (land use practices are moved out of their original location to somewhere else), and unequal costs and benefits to people. I use spatial information on biodiversity, ecosystem services (the benefits people derive from nature – such as carbon sequestration), and human activities to develop innovative tools and metrics to better inform decision makers on the outcomes of broadscale environmental policies and markets. My research directly contributes to improving global biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation outcomes.

Experience

  • 2025–present
    Lecturer, The University of Newcastle
  • 2024–2025
    Research fellow, Queensland University of Technology
  • 2022–2024
    Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Queensland
  • 2017–2022
    PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland
  • 2020–2021
    Research fellow, International Institute of Sustainability Australia
  • 2017–2020
    Research Assistant, The University of Queensland/Wildlife Conservation Society

Education

  • 2016 
    The University of Queensland, Honours (Class 1)
  • 2013 
    The University of Queensland, Bachelor of Science, Ecology and Zoology majors

Publications

  • 2022
    Global rarity of intact coastal regions, Conservation Biology
  • 2021
    The potential for applying “Nonviolent Communication” in conservation science, Conservation Science and Practice
  • 2021
    Multinational Coordination Required for Conservation of at least 90% of Marine Species, Global Change Biology
  • 2021
    Accelerated shifts in terrestrial life zones under rapid climate change, Global Change Biology
  • 2021
    How to halve the carbon and biodiversity impacts of biofuel-driven land-use change in Brazil, Biological Conservation
  • 2020
    Change in terrestrial human footprint drives continued loss of intact ecosystems, One Earth
  • 2020
    Set a global target for ecosystems, Nature
  • 2020
    Australia faces environmental crisis, Science
  • 2020
    A robust goal is needed for species in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, Conservation Letters
  • 2020
    Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development, Environmental Research Letters
  • 2020
    Just ten percent of the global terrestrial protected area network is structurally connected via intact land, Nature communications
  • 2020
    Impact of 2019–2020 mega-fires on Australian fauna habitat, Nature Ecology & Evolution
  • 2019
    Three global conditions for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use: An implementation framework, National Science Review
  • 2018
    Absence of evidence for the conservation outcomes of systematic conservation planning around the globe: a systematic map, Environmental Evidence
  • 2018
    The exceptional value of intact forest ecosystems, Nature ecology & evolution
  • 2018
    The threats endangering Australia's at-risk fauna, Biological Conservation
  • 2017
    Optimising the spatial planning of prescribed burns to achieve multiple objectives in a fire‐dependent ecosystem, Journal of Applied Ecology

Contact Brooke for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision