As the new Australian Climate Service undertakes a landmark project to analyse and map our changing climate across every city and region in the country, Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley has used National Science Week to highlight the critical role of climate adaptation and resilience.
"Our climate is changing and the Morrison Government is investing more than $500 million in science programs to help us understand those changes, to make our environment more resilient in the face of them and to help us to adapt," Minister Ley said.
"The $210 million Australian Climate Service strengthens Australia's position as a world leader in enabling better planning and preparation for major weather events and the impacts of changing climates.
"It will help to underpin future adaptation strategies such as the National Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy which is being updated ahead of the international climate summit later this year.
"The strategy will provide a clear and practical pathway for building the resilience of our communities, our environment and our economy in partnership with states, territories and local communities."
Minister Ley highlighted the importance of the Morrison Government's $149 million investment in phase two of the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) in helping to protect our environment in coming years.
Centred across four major research hubs (Resilient Landscapes, Marine and Coastal, Sustainable Communities and Waste, and Climate Systems), the new phase of NESP also includes four cross cutting priorities to research practical scienced-based strategies that address climate adaptation, threatened species, protected places, and waste impacts.
"The NESP program will deliver science-based strategies that we can implement to help protect local environments, native species and the sustainability of our urban environments," Minister Ley said.
"It is about working with local communities to identify and implement practical measures we can take to enhance our local environments and the ways we live within them.
"As the world continues to develop global responses to emissions the importance of science in adapting to changes that are already taking place is vital.
"On the Great Barrier Reef a $150 million Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program is focussing on the development of heat resistant corals, on coral spawning initiatives and coral restoration.
"Scientists in our Australian Antarctic Division are venturing deep into the interior of Antarctica drilling an ancient ice cores to discover how the Earth's climate changed in the past and inform our modelling for the future.
"At the same time, under our $100 million Oceans Leadership Package, we are researching blue carbon initiatives to enhance ocean habitats and coastal environments while contributing to the global task of reducing emissions.
"And our $200 million investment in bushfire habitat and native species recovery continues to identify the challenges facing native species and the steps we can take in the future.
"There are many practical ways communities can get involved in this, from joining local Landcare groups to the ways we build, the trees we plant and the local environments we create.
"Citizen science projects also play an important role - even during lockdowns."
Some of the current citizen science projects (both Commonwealth and privately funded) open for participation include:
- Eye on the Reef (Queensland) - Those who live near or visit the Great Barrier Reef in future can contribute to its long-term protection by collecting valuable information about reef health, marine animals and incidents. Download the Eye on the Reef app to learn more.
- Digital Fishing Challenge (Australia-wide) - Help scientists in Kakadu National Park generate the largest dataset of fish species in the world. Simply log online and lend a hand labelling more than 500,000 images of fish. You don't need to be a fish expert to help!
- Survive and Thrive (NSW, ACT) - Support the restoration of high-country flora impacted by the 2020 bushfires by keeping an eye out for the five priority species in your area. Contact the National Parks Conservation Trust or Australian National Botanic Gardens if you would like to get involved.
- Gang Gang Cockatoo monitoring (NSW, ACT) - If you're a birdwatcher, you might be interested in this citizen science project which encourages people to look out for and take a photo of gang-gang nesting sites or hollows and upload them to the citizen scientist site "iNaturalist".
- Frog ID (Australia-wide) - This project asks people to record frog calls with nothing more than a smart phone app, so that we can learn more about Australia's frogs and how best to protect them.
- Hoot Detective (Australia-wide) - Citizen scientists are being invited to listen to 10 second recordings of owl calls from home to help identify the calls of five native owl species, and other wildlife.
