Climate Response
Some climate impacts are unavoidable, even under the best mitigation scenarios. The damage inflicted by these impacts depends in part on how well human communities and natural systems can adapt, yet there has been remarkably little attention given to the need for and best means by which to respond to these inevitable impacts. The vast majority of scientific research and political energy has been devoted to confirming the causes of climate change, predicting impacts, and seeking acceptable methods of greenhouse gas reduction. While mitigating climate change through reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must continue as a national and international priority, adaptation and response measures are both urgent and imperative. As well as the projected health impacts, property owners – including the managers of public infrastructure - risk physical damage from severe climate events.
Various tertiary institutions have track records in the scientific prediction of climate change, and in policy initiatives designed to mitigate impacts. However, no major Australian university has fully considered how actual Australian societies, with their real and existing legal, economic and social constraints, will respond to changes in the physical and social environment, especially an increased frequency and severity of natural disasters. The Climate Response Program brings together expertise from Griffith’s Science, Engineering, Law, Environment and Planning, and Health groups to form a leading national research program to research and develop practical tools to respond to the multiple impacts of climate change.
Griffith University has a long standing national and international reputation in research in the environmental sciences, with the largest group of environmental professionals of any university in Australia. Griffith’s Climate Response staff have been advising governments on climate change response issues for many years. The Climate Response Program builds directly on Griffith’s environment brand and places Griffith University at the forefront of dealing with the major environmental issue of the 21st century.