Duncan Mackenzie is Chairman of Ecotourism Australia and the South Australian Tourism Industry Council. He is past Chairman of the South Australian Tourism Accreditation Board, ,the Riverland Biosphere Reserve and Deputy Chairman of the Riverland Tourism Association.

As Chairman of Birds Australia Gluepot Reserve, he has been responsible for taking the property from a marginal sheep station in 1997, to a conservation reserve of international standing and one of Australia’s leading ecotourism destinations. Winner of 37 national and international awards, the Reserve holds Advanced Eco Certification, Australian Tourism Accreditation and was one of the first organisations in Australia to achieve “Leader” level status in the ‘Climate Action Certification Program’ – the Reserve is carbon neutral. Gluepot was one of 30 national tourism operators to be selected to pilot the Climate Action Certification Program developed for the tourism industry by Ecotourism Australia and marketed by Sustainable Tourism Australia Pty Ltd (STA). He is a Director of STA.

As Chairman of the Riverland Biosphere, Duncan was involved in the development of a ‘Riverland Nature Based Tourism Strategy – an Ecotourism Initiative’ and was one of the driving forces in the development of a Riverland TAFE Ecotourism certificate/diploma course – an Australian first. He is a member of the SA Tourism Minister’s Round Table.

Duncan is a member of the Banrock Station RAMSAR Wetlands Management Advisory Group and is a long-time member of the Management Committee of the Scientific Expedition Group (SEG) – he as acted as Chief Scientists and Expedition Leader on a number of SEG expeditions.

He has been the driving force behind the candidacy submission of the Murray River Tri-State region as a ‘National Landscape’ and was a presenter at a number of Qantas ‘Sustainable Tourism’ seminars around Australia.

He is a member of Ecotourism Australia’s Eco Certification and Climate Action Certification Steering Committee’s, Executive and Finance Committee and Awards Committee and was Convenor of the ‘2008 Inaugural Conference on Green Travel, Climate Change and Ecotourism’.

Duncan’s background is as a senior manager for the Ford Motor Co., Alcoa of Australia, Tubemakers of Australia and as the managing director of a large international technology company he helped form. He recently retired as the Executive Director of the Nature Foundation SA. He has also worked in Antarctica for a number of years as a biological scientist. He is the author of over 350 papers, articles and books and is an accredited international photographic judge.