Geoffrey Hope, BSc (Hons), MSc (Melb), PhD (ANU), DSc (Melb)
Professor, Department of Archaeology and Natural History

Email: geoffrey.hope@anu.edu.au

Biographical Statement

Educated in Canberra and Melbourne, I have been based at ANU since 1978, lecturing in Geography before moving to a research position in RSPAS in 1990. As an environmental historian I work on the interface between human activity and the environment with a mix of archaeologists, biogeographers and geoscientists.

Research Interests

My research assesses the past impact of people on landscapes by measuring vegetation change (using pollen, charcoal and phytoliths) and geomorphic consequences—erosion, silting and shifts in production. I am also interested in the roles of climate change and fire on human responses and adaptability. I am currently assessing the long term fire regimes in east Kalimantan, Myanmar, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji in relation to their very different human settlement histories. I am also involved in measuring climate change in high altitude sites across New Guinea using glacial histories. I am also contributing to pollen and other microfossil databases for the south west Pacific region and a cooperative pollen description for the Indo-Pacific. A further interest is the peatlands of SE Asia and Australia in terms of wetland process, extent, carbon sequestration values and rehabilitation after burning or clearing. This work aims to contribute practical help for control of greenhouse emissions and solutions to problems of land management and biodiversity conservation.

Key Publications

• 'Palaeoecology and palaeoenvironments of Papua'. In A. J. Marshall and B. M. Beehler, (eds.), The Ecology of Papua. Periplus Editions, Singapore, 255-266, 2007.
• (ed. with J. Whinam) 'The peatlands of the Australasian region'. In G.M. Steiner, (ed.), Moore - von Sibirien bis Feuerland, Biologiezentrum der Oberoesterreichischen Landesmuseen Neue Serie 35, Linz, 397-434, 2005.
• (with U. Chokkalingam, and S. Anwar), 'The stratigraphy and fire history of the Kutai Peatlands, Kalimantan, Indonesia'. Quaternary Research 64, 407-417, 2005.
• 'Environmental change in the Late Pleistocene and later Holocene at Wanda Site, Soroako, South Sulawesi', Indonesia, J. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 145, 2001.
• 'Quaternary change and historical biogeography of Pacific Islands', In A. Keast & S.E. Miller (eds), The Origin and Evolution of Pacific Island Biotas, New Guinea to Eastern Polynesia: Patterns and Process, SPB Publishing, Amsterdam, 165-190, 1996.
• (with J. Tulip) 'A long vegetation history from lowland Irian Jaya, Indonesia', J. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 109, 385-398, 1994.
• 'Quaternary Vegetation', In R.Hill (ed.), History of Australian Vegetation, Cretaceous to Recent, CUP, Cambridge, 368-389, 1994.
• (ed. with J.A. Peterson, U. Radok and I. Allison) The Equatorial Glaciers of New Guinea, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 1976.

Career Highlights

Board Member, BIOME6000 Climate model intercomparison project 1996-present; Head, Department of Geography ANU (1987-89), Department of Archaeology and Natural History 1998-2003; President, Australian Quaternary Association; Invited lecturer in 2006 to an International Institute of Asian Studies Masterclass 'Paleo-environments and environmental change in Asia'. May 2003-present Member, peatland advisory committee, NSW National Parks and Wildlife (DCC) and Carruthers group (Alpine Land Management). Partner for compilation of peatland data in Papua New Guinea to support the prediction of carbon storage and GHG emission of tropical peatlands in 'Vulnerabilities of the Carbon Climate System'. Editor for the Journal of Peatlands Research.