Research Fellow
Socio-economic impact assessment, participatory resource management, environmental conflict, forest policy, fisheries policy
Phone: +61 2 6125 2737
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: jacki.schirmer@anu.edu.au

Jacki has been undertaking research on social dimensions of natural resource management for ten years. After completing undergraduate degrees in Forestry and Economics at ANU, she worked as a consultant in forest economics at FORTECH (now URS Forestry) before returning to ANU to complete her doctorate. From 2003 to 2005 she was a scientist with the Social Sciences Program of the Bureau of Rural Sciences. She has co-taught ENVS3007/6021 'Participatory Resource Management' since 2003. Jacki currently leads the 'Communities' project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry.

Professional Activities

My research interests are primarily in the area of studying the socio-economic impacts of changes in land use and access to natural resources such as fish stocks. I have spent most of the last eight years undertaking research examining the social issues that emerge as a result of rapid land use change - for example, disputes and conflicts arising out of land use change from traditional agriculture to plantations.

I have a particular interest in exploring and extending approaches to combining the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine impacts of land use and resource access change. My current work with the CRC for Forestry 'Communities' and 'Land Use Change' projects is further exploring how the use of statistics from sources such as the ABS can be usefully combined with qualitative data drawn from residents of rural communities to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of impacts of land use change.

Selected Publications

Schirmer, J., Williams, K., Borschmann, P. and Dunn. C. 2008. Living with land use change: different views and perspectives. Report prepared for the Socio-economic impacts of land use change study. March 2008. CRC for Forestry Technical Report 180. CRC for Forestry, Hobart. (refereed)

Schirmer, J. 2008. Forestry, jobs and spending: forest industry employment and expenditure in Tasmania, 2005-06. CRC for Forestry Technical Report 184, June 2008. CRC for Forestry, Hobart.

Schirmer, J. 2007. Plantations and social conflict: exploring the differences between small-scale and large-scale plantation forestry Small-scale forestry 6(1): 19-33

Schirmer, J.; Parsons, M.; Charalambou, C.; and Gavran, M. 2005. Socio-economic impacts of plantation forestry in the Great Southern region of WA, 1991 to 2004. Report produced for FWPRDC Project PN04.4007. Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation, Melbourne URL: < http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13290>

Schirmer, J. and Casey, A.M. 2005. Social Assessment Handbook: A guide to methods and approaches for assessing the social sustainability of fisheries in Australia. FRDC ESD Reporting and Assessment Subprogram Publication No. 7. Bureau of Rural Sciences and Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra. URL: < http://www.affashop.gov.au/product.asp?prodid=13168>

Tonts, M. and Schirmer, J. 2005. Managing social conflict in the tree plantation industry: growing consensus or deepening divisions In Cryle, D. and Hillier, J. (eds) Consent and consensus: politics, media and governance in twentieth century Australia. API Network, Perth. pp. 275-296.

Schirmer, J. and Tonts, M. 2003. Plantations and sustainable rural communities. Australian Forestry 66: 67-74