Climate change adaptation
7 June 2008
The wild weather over the last week had me contemplating the difficulty communities will increasingly face in separating natural climate and weather fluctuations from events associated with climate change. That aside, as an increasingly urbanized society, how we cope with the impacts of extreme weather events or climatic cycles such as drought, will be a good indicator of the quality of planning that takes place at the local, state and national levels. Success will also rely on the quality of the expert advice available locally to help decision makers, communities and individuals make rational decisions about future-proofing our region.
At the University, staff are taking a lead role in the rapidly growing field of climate change adaptation. USC is the first university in Australia to deliver postgraduate coursework programs in climate change adaptation. Courses are delivered flexibly with intensive on-campus teaching blocks balanced by individual project work off-campus. The flexibility makes these programs ideal for people who are working in environment related fields who wish to upgrade their qualifications. At the same time, they provide an opportunity for emerging practitioners, who are seeking to move into careers developing around climate change adaptation, to obtain appropriate tertiary accredited qualifications.
By the end of this year, courses in climate change adaptation and mitigation will also be available to undergraduates. In another Australian first, USC also offers a Masters by Research degree in climate change adaptation.
The University is emerging as a national leader in climate change adaptation professional development programs. This was acknowledged in the recent budget through a $150,000 grant by the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change. The grant will enable the University to further collaborative arrangements between tertiary institutions and training bodies for the provision of education and training for existing and new climate change practitioners in the public and private sectors, as well as community based organisations.
Our practical involvement in this field is growing rapidly. For example, USC is working closely with South East Queensland Catchments and the Burnett Mary Regional Group to demonstrate how to apply ‘climate proofing’ tools and techniques at regional and local scales. This is being done through the collaborative involvement of government and community groups in activities encompassing: developing regional climate change scenarios; assessing coastal vulnerability in the Wide Bay Burnett region and Moreton Bay; linking biodiversity and ecosystem services; evaluating climate change impacts on farm forestry; and meeting water security needs through decentralised supply systems.
The university is involved in research on several fronts. For example, USC is an active partner in the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility and the emerging National Adaptation Research Plans being coordinated through this centre. USC staff are also involved in the major, CSIRO coordinated climate change initiative for coastal Councils in the greater Sydney region. On the international front, staff are researching disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in a number of Pacific Island countries. This work is strengthened through partnerships with the University of the South Pacific, the University of Papua New Guinea, and the International Global Change Institute at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
Climate change adaptation, while currently topical, is not actually all that new. A number of our staff have been actively involved in this field for many years, both in Australia and overseas. This has given the University a leading edge that we intend to maintain, particularly as it relates to benefiting our regional and local communities.
Professor Greg Hill is Acting Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.