Dr Marc Hockings is Emeritus Professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Queensland. He is a long-term member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through its World Commission on Protected Areas, Species Survival Commission and Commission on Ecosystem Management. He initiated and is leading the IUCN WCPA work on the Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas.

His presentation is titled Quality counts – making protected areas effective, equitable and successful. He will be addressing: The role of IUCN’s Green List of Protected Areas in encouraging and measuring National Parks to reach good standards of management and what Australia and Queensland’s National Parks need to do to achieve the internationally acceptable standard.

The Romeo Lahey Memorial Lecture honours the principal founder of the National Parks Association of Queensland (NPAQ), who remained President  or more than 30 years and was instrumental in convincing the Queensland Government to declare many of the state’s national parks gazetted up to the 1970s. Lahey was also co-founder of Binna Burra Lodge, located within the world heritage listed Lamington National Park.

Just one week after the the Queensland Governor Sir John Goodwin opened the Brisbane City Hall the inaugural meeting of the National Parks Association of Queensland was held in the Lord Mayor’s Reception Room of the Brisbane City Hall on 15th April, 1930. In recognition of the historical link, this year the NPAQ Romeo Lahey Memorial lecture will again be held at City Hall.