Planning for climate change

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (CMAR) aims to advance Australian climate, marine, and earth systems science. Our research focusses on issues affecting Australia and the world, and we provide a range of scientific and consulting services that are underpinned by this research.

Enabling Australia to adapt more effectively to the impacts of climate change and variability and informing national planning, regulation and investment decisions.

The latest issue of ECOS provides expert analysis of the draft report of the independent Garnaut Review on emissions trading and the Federal Government’s Green Paper, which outlines the differing proposals for a ‘carbon pollution reduction’ scheme.

The impact that human-generated and natural atmospheric particles (aerosols) could be having on Australia’s climate will be discussed next week in Canberra at a workshop involving some of the world’s leading experts in the area.

The Climate Adaptation Flagship is developing adaptation options for Australia’s primary industry and resource sectors to reduce the vulnerabilities and enhance opportunities created by climate change.

Flagship research is ensuring that Australia is positioned to deal effectively with the impacts of climate change by providing the scientific knowledge needed to improve our ability to adapt.

CSIRO’s expertise in carbon accounting is assisting plantation managers and informing policy development and implementation to support emerging carbon markets.

CSIRO research on rivers and estuaries focuses on sustaining and improving the health of our aquatic systems, by understanding how these systems are affected by land use change and climate change.

New plastics developed by CSIRO, Hanyang University Korea and the University of Texas have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and help purify water and CSIRO research leader Dr Anita Hill discusses this research in this vodcast. (2:20)

This video features Dr John Church, winner of a 2006 CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement for his work in studying the effects of global warming. (2:00)

Dr Andrew Ash leads CSIRO's research on adapting to life in a changing climate. As the Director of the Climate Adaptation Flagship, he oversees a large and diverse portfolio of research activities across Australia.

Dr Trevor Booth is working on ways to reduce the impacts of climate change on Australia’s ecosystems, as well as developing adaptation options.

This article from Farming Ahead contains four stories on biofactories to produce ‘green’ plastics, drought tolerant wheats, the Kyoto Protocol as a first step in assessing climate change risks and providing technical expertise for Borneo’s Planted Forests Project. (1 page)

The Climate Adaptation Flagship is seeking collaborations with universities and other potential partners to undertake a regional vulnerability and adaptation study in South-East Queensland.

The oceans are the largest repository of heat on Earth, with a capacity 1 000 times greater than the atmosphere. This heat is distributed around the globe by ocean currents referred to as the ‘conveyor belt’. This circulation influences, and is influenced by, the climate.

Although we are aware of the ways our climate is shaping changes on the land, we are less familiar with change beneath the waves of the worlds’ oceans and coastal waterways, and the influences that our oceans and our changing climate have on each other.