Valerie A. Brown AO, BSc MEd PhD is Director of the Local Sustainability Project, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University; and Emeritus Professor of Environmental Health, University of Western Sydney. She has held national advisory positions in public health, environmental management and higher education, and presented innovative programs in these fields in the Asia-Pacific, Canada and Europe. Valerie is the author of over 200 research papers and 12 books on linking social and environmental issues and social change, the most recent being Towards whole-of-community engagement: a toolkit of strategies 2004 (with Heather Aslin); Sustainability and health:… supporting global integrity in public health Earthscan 2005 (with J. Grootjans, J. Ritchie, M. Townsend and G.Verrinder); Social learning and environmental management Earthscan 2005 (with M.Keen and R. Dyball) and Leonardo's vision. A guide to collective thinking and action SENSE 2008John A. Harris is a university academic, outdoors educator, and former Head of School of Environmental Science, University of Canberra. He has over 35 years experience in ecological and social research, post-graduate supervision and undergraduate teaching. John was a pioneer in the establishment of the professional field of natural resource management in Australia. His academic teaching and research appointments at CSIRO Plant Industry and various universities include the Australian National University, Colorado State University and the University of Hanoi as well as consultant ecologist to UN Man and the Biosphere Programme and the National Museum of Australia. Publications include Harris, J. and Deane, P. 2005 'The Ethics of Social Engagement: Learning to Live and Living to Learn' in Keen, M., Brown, V.A., and Dyball R. (eds) Social Learning in Environmental Management: Towards a Sustainable Future, Earthscan, London; and Harris, J.A. and Robottom, I. 1997 'Postgraduate Environmental Education Research: Meeting the needs of the community' in Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Volume 13, pp. 49-54.Jacqueline Y. Russell B.Sc (Resource and Environmental Management) Hons, PhD has recently completed a highly-regarded PhD thesis on a critical systems approach to the study of complex socio-environmental issues. Since then, she has been a researcher at the Australian Bureau of Rural Sciences, working in collaborative teams to investigate the social impacts of drought, the perceptions of climate risk and adaptation in rural communities. Her special interest has been on the ways in which conflicting values for water might be negotiated during the most persistent and severe drought on record. She is co-author of a number of reports on her research and has presented papers on the findings at local, national and international conferences.