Content
Students warm to climate change adaptation course
Addressing the challenges posed by climate change will require plenty of foresight, planning, tenacity, scientific modelling and innovation.
Exactly the same qualities shown by the University of the Sunshine Coast in launching Australia’s first accredited post-graduate program in Climate Change Adaptation for current and future professionals working in the private and public sectors.
USC Adjunct Associate Professor Richard Warrick has this week finished teaching the University’s first intensive post-graduate climate change course to a group of eight students.
The two-week course involved 120 hours of learning, with successful students completing half the requirement for a Graduate Certificate in Climate Change Adaptation. Further studies could lead to a Graduate Diploma and then a Masters degree.
The intensive course is part of a suite of courses developed over the past three years by USC, in collaboration with the International Global Change Institute (IGCI, at the University of Waikato, New Zealand), the Environment Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist (eriss) and other partners.
Associate Professor Warrick has more than 30 years experience in the field of climate change and has been a lead author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports in 1990, 1995, 2001 and 2007.
He has spearheaded integrated assessment modelling as a way of linking models and data on climate change and its impacts for decision-making purposes.
Among his students in the ground-breaking USC course were former US government public policy advisor Kate English, Swiss environmental science student Martina Reichstetter and Toowoomba TAFE College environmental studies teacher Peter Baulch.
Associate Professor Warrick said the professional development programs aimed to equip public and private sectors in making informed decisions about managing the risks arising from climatic variability and change.
“The courses are designed to convey both the theory and practice of climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment,” he said.
“It’s very much a risk-based approach, so we deal with climate change and how it could exacerbate the risks to which we’re now exposed.”
“It has a lot of relevance to today’s problems, such as the drought, water supply and coastal management, and therefore has practical use for planners and resource managers in the region. It impinges upon a broad range of disciplines.”
Associate Professor Warrick said the intensive block courses prepare professional people to link climate variability and change to their work-place activities.
“A lot of people with an interest in learning about this are professionals who might not have the time for the conventional semester-based courses, but still want to upskill and upgrade their qualifications,” he said.
“It will broaden their capacity for being able to competently communicate and analyse issues having to do with climate change, it’s impact and adaptation options.”
The driving force behind the climate change courses, USC Associate Professor in Environmental Science Peter Waterman said the courses were portable, with the next one planned for Sydney.
Associate Professor Waterman said there was now a huge demand for the courses.
“Local governments are interested in the impacts of climate change,’’ he said. “We know this because we see local councils are employing climate change adaptation officers.”
“Climate change has both regional and local relevance, right down to kerbs, drains, roads and water supply.”
Associate Professor Waterman said some of the risk factors councils could face as a result of climate change included subdivision planning litigation risks, health risks from mosquito-borne diseases and coastal erosion.
USC has a formal link with Climate Risk Pty Ltd and its sister company, Climate Risk Europe Ltd, to deliver professional in climate change to business and industry.
It also has a formal link with CLIMsystems Ltd (New Zealand) who hold the exclusive distribution rights for software products which are used in the post-graduate program and professional development training.