A COMMUNITY CONVERSATION WITH JOSHUA LEWIS, KRISTIN DEN EXTER AND TECHA BEAUMONT
As we grapple with a changing climate and the negative impacts of historical land uses, what opportunities exist to work with nature rather than against it, and if we take this approach, what is at stake? What can we learn from Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta about implementing nature-based solutions that allow our waterways to flourish?
Join us for an evening with New Orleans-based Professor of River and Coastal Studies, Dr. Joshua Lewis, Richmond Riverkeepers co-founder Dr Kristin den Exter and Bruns Riverkeepers co-founder Techa Beaumont. Together they’ll share local and international perspectives on using nature-based solutions to tackle big environmental challenges along our waterways.
From wetland restoration to river management, coastal Louisiana has seen everyone – from passionate environmental advocates to large industries – embrace nature-based solutions. But for those of us living in Northern Rivers, how do we sift through these ideas? Which projects really represent a shift toward a sustainable future, and which ones are just “business as usual” with a green label?
Joshua will share valuable lessons from over 20 years of experience in Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta, helping us to critically examine nature-based infrastructure proposals. It’s an exciting space, but also complex, and this conversation will offer a helpful framework for understanding what’s working, what’s not, and how we can apply these insights to our own region.
Josh will share highlights from his work with nature-based solutions around the Mississippi Delta and will then be joined by Kristin and Techa for a discussion exploring the opportunities locally to use this knowledge to live harmoniously with our waterways. Together they’ll host a Q&A session.
Snacks provided, drinks available for purchase
This event is a special Green Drinks as part of the Bruns Riverkeepers Launch program.
Hosted by Mullum SEED, Living Lab Northern Rivers, Bruns & Richmond Riverkeepers.
Joshua Lewis is visiting Australia at the invitation of Living Lab Northern Rivers in partnership with Sydney University’s Henry Halloran Research Trust.
About Joshua Lewis
Joshua Lewis is director of the Tulane ByWater Institute. His research and community engagement seeks ecologically appropriate and socially equitable responses to water and ecosystem management dilemmas. Josh works closely with local governments, community organizations, and global partners to build interdisciplinary research programs. He currently leads an ecological monitoring program investigating the ecological effects of large-scale green infrastructure in New Orleans.
Joshua has been core to bringing cross sectoral collaborations to support New Orleans in rethinking their relationship to water following Hurricane Katrina as part of the Greater New Orleans Water Urban Plan. The plan outlines how resilient infrastructure projects can slow, store and use stormwater effectively to lessen subsidence and protect our neighbourhoods from flooding while creating equitable and accessible green spaces and waterfronts. “Over the past decade, community, government, business, academic and philanthropic partners have largely begun to embrace the idea of ‘living with water’ and using green stormwater infrastructure to reduce neighbourhood flooding, develop equitable economic opportunities and improve quality of life”
Read more about the Greater New Orleans Water Plan here.
About Kristin den Exter
Kristin has a passion for fostering social collaboration and is committed to community-led approaches and the ongoing need for decolonisation and cultural awareness. Kristin grew up on the banks of Mahmun (the Wilsons River) in Lismore, lands of the Widjabal Wiabal people. Her connection to the river has sustained her life, from learning to canoe at Richmond River High School in the 1980s, to planting trees on the river in Lismore with Wilsons River Landcare since 1993. Today, Kristin loves nothing more than to canoe up river in Lismore with the restored riverbank forest on either side.
Kristin has diverse background in research, community and industry engagement, environmental science and management, and for over 12 years fostered relationships between Southern Cross University and its communities, before taking up a partnerships role for the National Landcare Network. Along with likeminded colleagues Kristin founded the Richmond Riverkeeper in 2022 after the biggest floods on record. Kristin now devotes her time to the Richmond Riverkeeper and a new role with Jagun Alliance on their Heal the Rivers project.
Read more about the Richmond Riverkeepers vision here.
About Techa Beaumont
As a land custodian along the Bruns River Techa has been working with others along the river to co-found the Bruns Riverkeepers Alliance. After working for over a decade on the frontlines of international campaigns on the ecological and human impacts of the mining and finance sector, Techa turned her eye to activism in her local community, founding a range of community initiatives including arts and cultural development organisation Kulchajam and the Mullum Organic Food Coop. After completing a two year Rotary Peace Fellowship working with Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon, she returned to the region, first as the co-director of an environmental consultancy supporting national and international environmental campaigns with spatial analysis and evidence based research and now as the executive director of regional environmental charity Mullum SEED.
Read more about the Bruns Riverkeeper here.