“Healthy Soils, Healthy Hunter: Building a Sustainable Future”

Professor Ravi Naidu
Laureate Professor and Founding Director
Global Centre for Environmental Remediation
University of Newcastle

Date: Thursday, 24 September 2026, 5.30 pm for 6.00 – 7.00 pm AEST
Venue: NEX, Newcastle Exhibition and Convention Centre, 309 King Street, Newcastle West, NSW
Registration: Registration is required by 2.00 pm AEST, Thursday, 24 September 2026
Entry: Members, $15; Non-members, $25; Students: $5
Enquiries: by email to the Hunter Branch Chair
All are welcome

Please click here to register

Summary: Healthy soils are fundamental to the environmental, economic, and social prosperity of the Hunter region. They sustain agricultural production, protect water resources, support biodiversity, store carbon, and provide the foundation for resilient communities. However, the Hunter’s long history of coal mining, industrial development, agriculture, and urban expansion has also left a legacy of disturbed landscapes, contaminated land, altered ecosystems, and increasing pressures from emerging contaminants and climate change.

This presentation will explore how restoring and protecting soil health can transform these challenges into opportunities for sustainable regional development. Particular emphasis will be placed on the rehabilitation of coal mines and post-mining landscapes, highlighting how advances in soil science, ecological restoration, landform design, and revegetation can accelerate ecosystem recovery, enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, and create productive land uses beyond mining. The presentation will also examine innovations in contaminated land assessment and remediation, PFAS management, circular economy approaches, soil carbon, and nature-based solutions that are reshaping the future of environmental stewardship.

Drawing on examples from the Hunter and internationally, the presentation will demonstrate how collaboration between industry, government, researchers, Traditional Owners, and local communities can deliver resilient landscapes that support economic diversification, environmental sustainability, and community wellbeing. By adopting a holistic ‘One Health’ approach that recognises the interconnectedness of healthy soils, healthy ecosystems, healthy water, and healthy people, the Hunter has a unique opportunity to become a global leader in mine rehabilitation, environmental restoration, and sustainable land management.

Healthy soils are not simply the foundation of a thriving Hunter—they represent one of the region’s greatest opportunities to build a resilient, prosperous, and sustainable future for generations to come.

Professor Ravi Naidu is a distinguished global leader in contamination science whose work has reshaped environmental remediation in Australia and internationally. As Director of the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation at the University of Newcastle and Managing Director of CRC CARE, he has pioneered research into agricultural and industrial contaminants, their pathways, and their impacts on human and environmental health. Over more than two decades—including a senior role at CSIRO—he has advanced national and global risk‑assessment frameworks and helped build Australia’s now multibillion‑dollar remediation industry. Naidu has patented multiple technologies targeting toxic residues and wastewater, and leads international capacity‑building initiatives to support cleaner, safer environments worldwide.

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