Dr Hugh Robertson is the Chair of the Scientific & Technical Review Panel. He was a member of the 2019-2022 STRP and led publications on sustainable agriculture and contributed to the Global Wetland Outlook 2021 and Global Peatlands Assessment. Dr Robertson has worked with Contracting Parties, IOPs and STRP Observers for many years, having been involved with the Convention since 2008, as STRP National Focal Point and member of the New Zealand delegation since COP10.
Dr Robertson is the Principal Scientist-Freshwater for the New Zealand Department of Conservation. His expertise encompasses the science-policy-management interface with specialist experience in defining limits of acceptable change for aquatic ecosystems, addressing non-sustainable land and water impacts on wetlands and improving environmental policy. He is the scientific lead of a national wetland restoration programme (Arawai Kākāriki) in New Zealand that works in partnership with indigenous peoples. His PhD examined the environmental water requirements of floodplain wetlands in Australia.