Salim Momtaz

Dr Salim Momtaz is an Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches in the area of Sustainable Resource Management. Salim became interested in human-environment interactions and their consequences when he was teaching environmental courses at Central Queensland University, Australia, in the late 1990s. During this time Salim received an invitation by the Queensland Premier's Department to carry out a social impact assessment (SIA) of the proposed upgrade of Awoonga Dam on the Boyne River near Gladstone, Queensland and the proposed Castle Hope dam on the Calliope River. A research team led by Salim conducted the investigation involving field visits, surveys, and discussions with the Mayors, local rate payers' association, local indigenous and non-indigenous community. The report titled "Independent Social Impact Assessment: Proposed Castle Hope Dam and Awoonga Dam Upgrade" (CQU Press: 1998) was submitted to the Premier's Department. The report was discussed in the Queensland State Parliament. Due to the potential negative impacts and community dissatisfaction as identified in the report the government decided to not go ahead with the new dam and accepted many of the recommendations of the report in the Awoonga Dam upgrade. This excellent outcome that demonstrated the power of SIA inspired Salim to conduct further investigations into this planning instrument. These were the early days of environmental and social impact assessment (EIA and SIA). He turned his research focus to the developing countries that had just started to embrace and implement EIA and SIA. Over the next few years Salim published 5 peer reviewed articles on SIA and public participation in developing countries. Salim's EIA research culminated in the publication of his book 'Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment' (Elsevier 2013) that develops a framework for assessment of EIA. Salim's research interests naturally progressed into investigating climate change adaptation as at the start of the new millennium researchers in EIA started to look into the ways by which climate change concerns could be incorporated in EIA and SIA. His climate change research resulted in a number of journal articles in high impact journals, such as, Climatic Change and a book by invitation 'Experiencing Climate Change in Bangladesh: Vulnerability and Adaptations in Coastal Regions' (Elsevier: 2015). Salim's research on 'climate change' is continuing with PhD projects in Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. Salim moved to Australia in 1994. From 1995 to 1998 Salim taught Geography and Environmental Studies at Central Queensland University. He joined the University of Newcastle in 1999 where he has been teaching since. He had a stint in the US teaching Environmental and Social Impact Assessment at Georgetown University, Washington DC, as a Visiting Professor. Salim currently lives in a coastal outer suburb of Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two daughters.