Charles Roche

My childhood in Western Australia's wheat-belt inspired a passionate commitment to the environment, which then slowly evolved to a focus on people, and their embedded connections to ecological space. I've worked for much of my life with Communities and Civil Society Organisations on biodiversity loss and the impact of the extractive sector, including the last fifteen years as Executive Director of the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI). MPI is an independent Australian-based think tank that focuses on assisting mining affected communities impacted by specific projects and on achieving extractive sector reform through improvements to policy, law, and practice.

More recently, a return to study, research and then a late start to academia has expanded my horizons to include a human flourishing perspective, including equity, justice, capabilities and the recognition of pluriversal worldviews and relations between the human and non-human worlds.

As a Lecturer in Sustainability and Development at Murdoch University (MU), my research now allows me to combine these two foci and experiences with the MU-MPI Just Transitions Collaboration (JTC). The focus of the JTC is on how the resources required for local and global transitions can be accessed and utilised in a just, equitable and sustainable manner in keeping with a strong understanding of sustainability.