Kiri-ganai Research Pty Ltd in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Business service

Kiri-ganai Research Pty Ltd

Locality: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Phone: +61 409 624 297

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25.01.2022 Counting down the days for the publication of Rural and Regional Futures, edited by Anthony Hogan and Michelle Young. Kiri-ganais Richard Price has a chapter on rural research. Did you know that our country folk have been leaders in innovation for over 200 years? Farmers invest more of their own money in research than just about every other Australian.

25.01.2022 We now have over 80 environmental, natural resource management and agricultural publications available for free downloading on our website: www.kiri-ganai.com.au. Many more to come!

24.01.2022 Workshop photos of the official Consolidation Workshop of the Australia-China Environment Development Programme Wetlands Project: January 2012

23.01.2022 Today (15 October) is Global Handwashing Day. But what if you dont have access to clean water or soap? Heres where Soap4Life comes to the aid of communities across Laos, starting with the placement of handwashing stations and provision of soap in schools. Kiri-ganai is a proud supporter of Soap4Life, and our Managing Director, Prof Richard Price, is a Board member and volunteer! Help Soap4Life make a difference. Please, if you can, donate through: http://www.soap4life.org/

21.01.2022 Meet Zhang Chenlu, or Ivy if you prefer. We, however, call her Chenlu. Chenlu is Kiri-ganais representative in Shanghai, based with our affiliate, Win The Market (www.winthemarket.com.cn). Chenlu will be the local face of Kiri-ganai Research in China, but will gear up Kiri-ganai Marketing to help our international clients extend their reach into the Chinese marketplace. You cannot understand the market of China without understanding its diverse cultures, which is where the social, cultural and institutional expertise of Kiri-ganai Research combines brilliantly with the extensive marketing expertise of Win The Market. Chenlu will be up for the challenge of breaching the worlds in which our respective companies operate.

21.01.2022 Its got a pretty long title (not our choice), but heres our recent report on the ecosystem services provided by soils and how these are impacted or enhanced by agriculture: www.kiri-ganai.com.au/publications_5.php (scroll to the bottom). For the record, the title is "The relationships between land management practices and soil condition (wind and water erosion, soil pH and carbon) and the quality of ecosystem services delivered from agricultural land in Australia."

21.01.2022 Which is scarier: a lack of practice, poor coordination and total absence of cultural sensitivity, or solid preparation, perfect alignment and a warriors commitment to act with honour and valour? If youve ever had your spine tingled by performances of the haka by New Zealands All Blacks rugby team over the past decade, take a look at how it was performed in 1973. Truly scary! The All Blacks went on to lose the game (against the Barbarians). For those involved in multi-cultural R&D collaborations, theres a mighty big lesson here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emJyEa4z2Ec

20.01.2022 The 2019 OECD Environment Report of Australias performance against its own targets over the past ten years is a sad tale. We are going backwards on every front. Carbon emissions are increasing, only one of ten biodiversity targets over 2010-15 were achieved, monitoring systems are not up to scratch, protected areas are inadequate, renewables are up but poorly distributed and integrated into the national grid due to lack of integrated national policy, public investment in R&D is down, etcetera etcetera. Its time we had s serious talk, a serious rethink and a serious commitment to the future of future generations.

20.01.2022 Kiri-ganai too green? So we have been told after inserting this short piece in a proposal recently. Go figure . . . "The history of irrigation in Australia has been an ongoing and often controversial interaction between those seeking to develop businesses, communities, industries and nations and those seeking to conserve limited water and land resources and unique landscapes and habitat. Few places on Earth embody all aspects of this issue as much as Tasmania. The very notion... of expansion of irrigation in Tasmania will be seen by some Tasmanian and other Australian constituents as a major potential threat to sustainability. This assumption is based on historical experience that irrigation-based civilizations have failed elsewhere, but it is also based on out-dated notions that Tasmanian industries have an inability to reconceive how irrigation development could be transformed to fulfil a range of services including economic, cultural and ecosystem services. To deal with the range of stakeholder preconceptions, Tasmania must underpin its move towards a sustainable irrigation industry with an irrigation R, D & E program that takes irrigation technology and practice to new levels. This should involve designing and implementing a cutting edge program that sees irrigation through the multiple lenses of paddock to plate, Cradle (Mt) to coast, community to cabinet, micro-economic reform to macro-industrial reconceptualization and traditional know-how to transformational technology. Yes, these terms read as hyperbolic rhetoric, however each represents an important component of what has been missing in most domestic and international irrigation programs. These are the kinds of concepts that need to be pursued to mark a new irrigation program apart from the many lacklustre proposals that compete for the limited resources of R&D investors. Conceived well, there is no reason why the program shouldnt aim to win an Australian Exporters Award for one of its collaborators, a Banksia Environmental Award for biodiversity management, a Eureka Award for outstanding and innovative science and even an Australian Investors in People Award for Health and Well-being. These are the kinds of aspirations and indicators that can communicate and demonstrate the transformational intentions of collaborators and help rally rival stakeholders around a shared understanding and vision." Oh well, we cant win them all. Lets hope the Tassies selected a better proposal than ours.

18.01.2022 The December 2012 copy of Issues Magazine includes an article that discusses the topic of integrated science and whether it acts to effectively deal with complex environmental issues in context or simply act as a scrapheap for issues abandoned by society as it seeks to deal with the next big challenge. Written by Kiri-ganais Richard Price for the 25th Anniversary Edition of Issues, the topic is explored in light of the rise and fall of salinity and salinity science over recent decades. And . . . salinity is not alone.

17.01.2022 Kiri-ganai Research is proud to have worked with the Australian Academy of Science to help develop a blueprint of the Future of Future Earth Australia: https://www.science.org.au//future-earth-australia-launche

16.01.2022 Today (15 October) is Global Handwashing Day. But what if you don't have access to clean water or soap? Here's where Soap4Life comes to the aid of communities across Laos, starting with the placement of handwashing stations and provision of soap in schools. Kiri-ganai is a proud supporter of Soap4Life, and our Managing Director, Prof Richard Price, is a Board member and volunteer! Help Soap4Life make a difference. Please, if you can, donate through: http://www.soap4life.org/

15.01.2022 These are the environmental stats that will be oft quoted over the next few months: OECD report httphttp://tinyurl.com/kvxcx76 Sadly for Australians, the amount of energy needed to create one unit of GDP is the second highest (or poorest) across all OECD countries. Globally, areas of agricultural improvement are offset by biodiversity declines in agricultural landscapes.... Much work remains to be done!

14.01.2022 The 2019 OECD Environment Report of Australia’s performance against its own targets over the past ten years is a sad tale. We are going backwards on every front. Carbon emissions are increasing, only one of ten biodiversity targets over 2010-15 were achieved, monitoring systems are not up to scratch, protected areas are inadequate, renewables are up but poorly distributed and integrated into the national grid due to lack of integrated national policy, public investment in R&D is down, etcetera etcetera. It’s time we had s serious talk, a serious rethink and a serious commitment to the future of future generations.

13.01.2022 Its great to be closely associated with The Australian National University through the Fenner School of Environment and Society. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of talks by my fellow researchers, including Will Howard talking about the anthropocene ocean, Ejaz Qureshi on agricultural policy in the Sindh province India, Anna Lukasiewicz on disaster justice and Tony Bolton on deep machine learning. All interrelated through their shared goals of global sustainability.

13.01.2022 With our work in China now complete, feel free to look through the final report to see what has given us so much pleasure over the past two years. Oh, and the wetland management policies and guidelines we helped to develop are already in use by the Chinese Government, evidence that it is possible to have fun and be productive at the same time! Many thanks to our Chinese, Australian and Malaysian team members for a great example of collaboration across organisations, disciplines and cultures! The final report is on our website: http://www.kiri-ganai.com.au/publications_6.php

13.01.2022 Whats the difference between language translation and translating what we hear when we consult people about R&D issues? Very little. We think the following seven secrets to good language translation by Darnya Zakharenko can be used in effective consultation and engagement processes. Good translators: 1) are well equipped; possessing the right skills and tools for translation; 2) dont jump into translating too quickly, but read the entire text to understand the component par...ts and their relationship; 3) seek to understand the style and nature of the text, so as to appreciate its purpose and framework; 4) focus on intended meaning, so as to capture the essence and nuances that distinguish the text; 5) state phrases aloud so that they hear their own translation to determine if it makes sense as they progress; 6) reread the translation upon completion, to determine if it makes both logical and intuitive sense; and 7) seek the response of native speakers, again to determine if the translation makes both logical and intuitive sense. Kiri-ganai thinks we would be mad not to learn from other disciplines when it comes to something as important as translating stakeholder issues into worthwhile R&D investments.

13.01.2022 It’s great to be closely associated with The Australian National University through the Fenner School of Environment and Society. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of talks by my fellow researchers, including Will Howard talking about the anthropocene ocean, Ejaz Qureshi on agricultural policy in the Sindh province India, Anna Lukasiewicz on disaster justice and Tony Bolton on deep machine learning. All interrelated through their shared goals of global sustainability.

12.01.2022 What better way to enrich your life than to be a volunteer with Abundant Water. Please consider . . .

11.01.2022 Kiri-ganai Research congratulates Dr Robyn Hall on her contribution as a young woman making great advances in science. Robyns efforts have now been acknowledged internationally and she is a deserving recipient of a Homeward Bound award to participate in a year-long leadership program for women with a STEM background. This program culminates in a three week intensive voyage to Antarctica. Kiri-ganai is a proud donor towards the Antarctic component of Robyns program and we invite others to consider joining us in supporting Robyn. For more information on how to sponsor Robyn, please head over to: https://chuffed.org/project/robyn-is-homeward-bound

10.01.2022 In November 2011, Kiri-ganai CEO Richard Price met with the head of Ningxias Bureau of the State Forestry Administration, Wang Delin. As it turns out, Wang Delin is one of Chinas leading calligraphers who also happens to be in the Guinness Book of Records for having produced the longest continuous calligraphy (i.e. using only one stroke of the brush to produce very complex characters before the paint runs out). In a special office adjoining his official administrative offic...e is a calligraphy room, adorned by photos of Wang Delin sharing his works with some of the worlds most famous leaders (Presidents, Prime Ministers etc). Here Wang Delin honoured Richard by producing the calligraphy that now sits in the Canberra office of Kiri-ganai Research. While Wang Delin usually produces single character works, the calligraphy for the word "environment" is two characters. This word was deemed fitting for the common relationship shared by Wang Delin and Richard Price. The connection with the United Nations is that the only work of Chinese calligraphy in the Art Gallery of the UN is a piece by Wang Delin. See more

10.01.2022 Some thoughts on the social perceptions of agriculture. . . Australian agricultural industries, including its grazing industry, continue to suffer from negative perceptions from the public and within some non-government organisations (e.g. Birdlife Australia, PeTA, Friends of the Pinnacle etc.). Notwithstanding that negative perceptions are articulated more frequently, publicly and emotively than positive ones, these negative perceptions come together to make a narrative tha...t is not only divisive in the short-term between graziers and citizens/consumers but potentially enduringly so. A negative perception of one aspect of industry performance can lead to and reinforce negative perceptions of other aspects. An example can be the negative perception of an industrys environmental performance may discourage people from seeking employment or becoming educated in that industry, leading to lowering education levels of the workforce, leading to a smaller and lower paid workforce which can then reinforce a range of negative views about the industry (and agriculture as a whole). Ultimately, this can reduce industry capacity to address both productivity and environmental challenges. Dealing with negative perceptions is not easy, particularly when they become blurred in the minds of consumers, such as in the case of confusing animal welfare issues and environmental sustainability or summarily dismissing an industrys performance in respect to one because the other is viewed poorly. For such reasons, the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee suggested in 2012 that Australian agriculture needs to rewrite its narrative as a positive one. This however requires that all aspects of an industrys performance can reinforce the positive narrative. The message for the grazing industry is that any perceived stain in its biodiversity performance bleeds into other aspects of its performance.

09.01.2022 Putting the GREAT back into Great Britain! https://interestingengineering.com/renewable-energy-overtak

08.01.2022 Big year coming up for Kiri-ganai in 2012! We finalise the China wetlands project (yet more meetings in China in January, February and, finally, April). The Chinese government looks set to adopt the wetland management policies and guidelines we have been collaborating on. Elsewhere, Richard will take up a part-time position with the Australian National University to assess whether Australias existing statutory frameworks, associated institutions and policy processes support or impede national adaptation planning and practice in relation to climate change. He is not lost to Kiri-ganai, as he will still have time available for company work. No rest for the wicked! We at Kiri-ganai wish all our friends and clients a wonderful and rewarding New Year!

08.01.2022 Yes, its a sanitation truck, and it was the highlight of our year in 2013. Specifically, its a septic tank cleaning truck in Vavau, Tonga. Kiri-ganai worked in many places across the globe in 2013, but this photo hits home in terms of things many of us take for granted as we celebrate the New Year. You might think that septic toilets are primitive, but much of the world doesnt even have that. Most houses, huts, shanties and the like just have pits in the ground. In Tonga,... until the U.N.s Integrated Water Resources Management project which Kiri-ganais Professor Richard Price is reviewing came along, those few houses with septic toilets have not had them cleaned out for anywhere between 9 and 30 years. There are no rivers in Tonga. Drinking water comes from groundwater, much of which is becoming contaminated by the toilet pits. This lone little truck therefore is worth its weight in gold. How fortunate some of us are! From everyone at Kiri-ganai Research, enjoy your New Year and may your 2014 be sustainable and rewarding! See more

08.01.2022 Ag Institute Australia, more formally titled the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, has made Richard Price a Fellow of the Institute in recognition of his contribution to agricultural and environmental science for the past 25 years. Although Prof Price is a social scientist, the Institute long ago recognised the broader range of disciplines that contribute to the advancement and sustainability of agriculture. Richards contribution has been made in a...gricultural and environmental policy in particular, but also in the development and management of significant national sustainable agriculture initiatives such as the National Dryland Salinity Program and the Managing Climate Variability Program among others.. "It is an honour to be acknowledged by ones peers for having contributed something they consider to have been valuable," said Richard, a member of the Institute since 1992.

06.01.2022 Wow, what a year 2012 turned out to be! Climate change adaptation policy reviews for the Australian National University and the Australian Government; preparation of a business model to implement adaptative management across Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre Basin) - this will become geographically the worlds largest implementation of adaptive management; identification and review of the ecosystem services provided by soils; advice to the South Australian Government on community engage...ment; completion of policy development and environmental management guidelines for the Chinese Government; audit of Australias climate change investment by the agricultural sector; and publication of book chapters, journal articles and magazine pieces - again, Kiri-ganai attempts to make all its material freely available on out website except where clients preclude this for reasons of confidentiallity. To all our clients and friends, thank you for helping Kiri-ganai make 2012 another year where we can say we have contributed positively to global sustainability. See more

06.01.2022 Off to China once more as the wetland policy and management project comes toward completion. This means not Facebook nor Twitter for the next 10 days! Back just in time for Chinese New Year in Australia!

05.01.2022 Sometime between Christmas and New Year, Kiri-ganai Research reached a publishing milestone for which it can be justifiably proud. Over the years Kiri-ganais publication list has increased to over 80 reports, articles and other manuscripts, with the total aggregated downloads of these reaching 100,000 just prior to 31 December 2013. A download in this case means an electronic transfer of a publication following an intentional hit of a download icon associated with each p...ublication. Kiri-ganai is confident that these downloads are legitimate through a range of website monitoring methods. We can also detect discernible patterns between the kinds of publications downloaded and the hot topics of the day. For example, when the Australian Macadamia Industry is undertaking a strategic planning process, downloads of our macadamia related publications go up drastically. Obviously it helps that most of Kiri-ganais publications are free and that they cover a diverse range of environmental, agricultural and social issues. Out of interest, our top five publications in order are: 1. Australian Beef Industry Triple Bottom Line Fact Sheet 2. Australian Macadamia Industry Literature Review 3. Case studies in Increasing the Adoption of Sustainable Resource Management 4. Review of the Impacts of Red Meat Production and Alternative Sources of Protein on Biodiversity 5. Evaluating the Responses to the Threats to Biodiversity Please note that the order of these publications is not necessary related to their popularity, but also to when they were written and therefore the length of time that they have been available for download. You can access our publications through the following link: www.kiri-ganai.com.au/publications_4.php

05.01.2022 The promise of splendid things . . . As someone regularly involved in the evaluation of industry, government and education sector programs, Kiri-ganai Researchs Professor Richard Price is used to seeing and hearing the promise of splendid things that will emerge from program investment. In many cases the nature of these splendid things is not specified, nor is the timing of their emergence. The investor is essentially asked to trust splendid people to find and deliver splend...id things. I call this the Howard Carter phenomenon, says Richard. Carters archaeological digs in Egypt were funded on several occasions by Lord Carnarvon, who after a few years of digs was losing patience with Carters oft-repeated promise of unearthing King Tutankhamens tomb. However, the day did eventually arrive when Carter found and excavated Tuts tomb. When asked by Carnarvon what he found, the answer was simply, . . . many splendid things." Indeed many splendid things were found, and these took many years to catalogue and even more years to fully reveal the wealth of knowledge they contained. Scientifically we are still benefitting greatly from the splendid things found from Tuts tomb. If we compare each of Carters digs to a research project, then we can come to understand the risk taking nature of modern research investment. Not every project will reveal splendid things, but on occasion, one will reveal so much wealth of knowledge that it more than makes up for the rest. Yet that said, the value of every dollar invested in science in an era of declining investment places pressure on every project proposal to make promises that in many cases cannot be kept or at best cannot be quantified. This dilemma occurs at the institutional level too. In recent years, the emergence of scientific (largely ecological) synthesis and analysis centres around the globe holds the promise that a more synthesised and interdisciplinary approach to dealing with big and complex datasets will come to reveal many splendid things more-so than would be revealed by traditional approaches to data analysis. The difference here though is that unlike Carnarvon, an investor in a synthesis centres activity is not funding a dig for splendid things but rather a revelation of the value hidden within splendid things already found. In the business world, this is called creating value. And that is what a synthesis centre promises to do.

05.01.2022 Kiri-ganai Research is proud to be working with Future Earth Australia and the Australian Academy of Sciences to develop a business model to ensure Australia is integrally connected into the worlds largest sustainability research network. We believe that Future Earth Australia through its Academies affiliation provides an authoratative means to connect rigorous research to evidence-based policy, management and practice. See Future earth Australias website for updates: https://www.science.org.au/supportin/future-earth-australia

04.01.2022 This week Kiri-ganai Research received the wonderful news that our good friend and international collaborator, Jan Gregor, with whom we worked across the Pacific, was awarded in the New Zealand Queens birthday honours with Officer of New Zealand order of merit for services to water safety and public health. This is a very well deserved honour, and the time Richard Price spent with Jan was in itself an honour for us. Contracted by the UNEP and UNDP, Richard and Jan worked toge...ther with 13 island nations evaluating a US$100 million water management program, and no-where was Jan unknown to the locals. Jan has dedicated her life to supporting the people of the Pacific, and has been acknowledged by her government. This is another brilliant example of women in science making a huge difference to the world we live in, particularly in less prosperous parts of the world. Congratulations Jan! (Incidentally, this photo was not posed. It was taken in the highlands of Fiji without Jan knowing. It was very windy!) See more

04.01.2022 Wow, we are now entering into our tenth year, and the diversity of our work continues to give all at Kiri-ganai great satisfaction. For example, we have just finished jobs on the ecosystem services provided by soils, the process by which a State government department might become more community-centric, and an analysis of farmers adaptation to climate change. Publications made on our site will follow when our clients permit this. Over the past year we have worked in Australia, China and the USA, and maintained our links with the climate research people in England. The next twelve months will see the Kiri-ganai Marketing arm of Kiri-ganai Research make further inroads into marketing sustainable, low carbon economy products into China.

02.01.2022 This month Kiri-ganai Researchs Managing Director, Professor Richard Price, was appointed as a board director of Abundant Water. This non-government organisation operates in SE Asia (mainly Laos for the present) to assist local potters make clay pot water filters to help ensure that the abundance of water available to local communities is actually drinkable. For many communities seemingly surrounded by freshwater, the reality is that much of it is not drinkable and as a cons...equence community members are often required to travel some distance to access and bring back water that is safe to drink. For the past few years, Abundant Water has worked closely with local potters to develop filters suitable for homes. More recently, however, this effort has been scaled up to cover community buildings such as schools. In the words of Abundant Water: "Unfortunately, the task of water gathering usually falls upon children and girls in particular. Our school filters are designed to produce adequate filtered clean water for the children to take the excess home. This now produces an incentive for the children to attend school." This notion of building local capacity, resilience and dignity reflects the values held by Kiri-ganai Research. Through Prof Prices board affiliation, we hope that Kiri-ganai can assist Abundant Water achieve its goals, in particular through helping it build the partnerships and networks that enable it to scale-up its operations while maintaining its culturally-steeped tradition of putting the interests of local communities first.

02.01.2022 The Final Report summarising our work developing national Chinese wetland policies and guidelines was submitted this week. Some of the guidelines are already in operation, which makes our two-year effort worthwhile. The photo here is of most of our project team, taken at the final consolidation workshop in Beijing.

02.01.2022 With so much of our time spent in China, and with our international business growing more broadly, it isnt unusual to find Kiri-ganais Managing Director discussing European or northern American business while in China. If in Shanghai, Professor Price chooses to walk prospective clients and partners around Yuyuan - the Yu Gardens, close to Shanghais CBD. And he will also take those friends simply wanting a liesurely walk instead of a boisterous tourist bus. While just outsi...de the gardens the tourist markets are as boisterous as Shanghai can get, the gardens themselves at the right time of day are peaceful, uplifting and a place to inspire a conversation that reveals so much more than value propositions, projected benefits and co-investment rules of engagement. Learning about the people we do business with is not only an enjoyable experience for us, but ultimately a most rewarding one. As this photo of the Yu Gardens shows, many of the greatest delights are the ones that take time to contemplate before they are revealed. Much like the best business partners, really.

02.01.2022 Kiri-ganai enjoys working with all primary industries with an interest in sustainability, but of course there are some industries we like working with more than others. The Nursery industry is one of our favourites and one which we happily dedicate pro-bono time to. Kiri-ganai recently helped the industry develop its strategic investment strategy for the next five years, and we wish Robert Prince and all his team at Nursery & Graden Industry Australia continued success in not just improving their own industrys sustainability, but that of the many industries, businesses and communities they service. Please visit: www.ngia.com.au