Dr. Margaret Hilda Friedel is an Australian rangeland (arid lands) ecology and management researcher, widely cited nationally and internationally for her work on the concept of ecosystem thresholds and her collaborative research with landholders and communities in outback Australia to foster understanding of the nature of rangeland ecosystems and how to balance commercial production with maintenance of a fragile resource base.
[1] Friedel's research is focussed on Australian rangelands from social, ecological and production perspectives, and the human-environment nexus in arid and semi-arid lands.
Her research work has included collaborative scenario making to test regional development options for arid land communities, mainly in the Northern Territory.
[4] In 1985–1986, Friedel researched similar issues in South Africa and later, from 2000 to 2004, ran a collaborative study in Rajasthan, India using remote sensing to assess land degradation.
[4] The year 1995 marked the beginning of Friedel's involvement in community-based planning and integrated approaches to regional development that incorporate economic, social and ecological values.