At Plan International Australia, critically engaging with Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has been one of my core priorities. NbS are rapidly becoming central means to build climate resilience across a range of disparate settings (e.g., dense urban cores, seascapes and forest-farm interfaces). Despite this enthusiasm, NbS remain poorly examined, particularly in relation to gender.
Key publications
Smith, W., Pellini, K., Wen, S.Q., Soni, T. (2025). Beyond inclusion: Empowering women and girls for smarter, fairer Nature-based Solutions to climate change. Plan International Australia, Melbourne.
I have a longstanding research agenda that explores the impacts and governance of climate change in the Philippines. Much of this research draws on the experiences indigenous communities to re-examines key ideas in global environmental governance such as adaptation, resilience and vulnerability.
Key publications
Mountains of Blame: Climate and Culpability in the Philippine Uplands (University of Washington Press, 2021)
I am also part of an interdisciplinary group of scholars exploring the revival of Indigenous Fire Management across southern Australia, and have previously acted as the Principal Investigator on Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre aiming to enhance Aboriginal peoples’ engagement with the natural hazard sector.
Key publications
Persuasion without policies: The work of reviving Indigenous peoples’ fire management in southern Australia w/ Timothy Neale and Jessica Weir