Queensland forester Donald Gilmour has been recognised in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours, awarded this week for “substantial contributions and significant impacts at local, national or international levels”.
Dr Gilmour was presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia (General Division) by the Governor-General, Sir David Hurley.
From working in tropical Queensland rainforests in the 1960s and 1970s to leading the Nepal Australia Forestry Project for 10 years since 1981, Dr Gilmour has been involved in the environmental sector for more than six decades.
The forestry project is run by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in Nepal.
Yesterday, SBS shared a podcast interview with Dr Gilmore – the interview can be downloaded here.
“When I was a teenager in the mid-1950s, I happened to see a movie (about) porters carrying a car up the Mahabharat Lekh [range]. I saw the forests portrayed in the video and was absolutely fascinated,” he told SBS Nepal.
“I had always kept that vision in the back of my mind, and as my own professional career unfolded in Australia, an opportunity came up for the Nepal Australia Forestry Project. I applied, and the rest is history.”
Dr Gilmour is an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is semi-retired in the bayside suburb of Wellington Point in Redland City.
His service to forestry extends over a wide range of activities, including:
Professional
- Head, Forest Conservation Program, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Switzerland, 1993-1997.
- Team Leader, Nepal Australia Forestry Project, 1981-1991.
- Principal, Forestry Training Centre, Department of Forestry, Queensland, 1978-1981.
- Adjunct Associate Professor, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast (current).
- Former Chair, Centre for People and Forests, Bangkok, Thailand.
Publications
- Co-author, Villagers, Forests, and Foresters: Philosophy, Process, and Practice of Community Forestry (Sahayogi Press, 1991).
- Author, Forests, and Water: A Synthesis of the Contemporary Science and its Relevance for Community Forestry in the Asia-Pacific Region, RECOFTC, 2014.
- Author, Forty Years of Community-based Forestry: A Review of Extent and Effectiveness, Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2016.
Dr. Gilmour is also a recipient (2015) of the Commonwealth Forestry Association’s Award of Excellence.
