Graduate Environmental Program

Mainstream science and standard economic analysis tell us that the Australian agricultural and resource industries are likely to be affected profoundly both by climate change and the global response to it. They are likely to be affected profoundly whether or not there is an effective global mitigation effort, and whatever the nature of Australia’s contribution to that effort.

Based on comprehensive research as part of the Climate Change Review in 2007-08, the likely affect of climate change and its mitigation on Australian agricultural and resource industries will be investigated. The focus will then shift to one important and difficult issue. The issue of the application of policies which support trade-exposed, emissions-intensive industries prior to the application of a comprehensive global agreement and similar emissions pricing in all substantial economies.

Professor Ross Garnaut

Ross Garnaut has been a Professor of Economics in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University since 1989. In 2008, he was appointed as Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He is currently Chairman of a number of international companies and research organisations, including the International Food Policy Research Institute, and a board member of several others. From 1985-88, Professor Garnaut was the Australian Ambassador to China.

Date: Wednesday July 8, 2009
Time: 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Location: Prince Phillip Theatre, Architecture Building (133), Parkville

Refreshments will be served after the lecture

Bookings for this event are recommended.

Click here if you would like a map of the Parkville campus.
If you have any enquires please call Rachel Corby on 8344 9751.
Please visit http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/info/… to reserve a seat.

Understanding and adapting our communities to the new world of climate change impacts is essential to ensuring our continued prosperity.

In association with the Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment, the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute (MSSI) and Office for Environmental Programs (OEP) are hosting a public lecture featuring leading international researchers in the areas of economics, social mobilisation and assessment of global change. This lecture will examine the costs of climate change for business, government and the community, and engage the audience with the complex and dynamic problem of adaptation, as a challenge for society at large.

Speakers:
Dr Samuel Fankhauser is an economist and Principal Research Fellow, Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. He is a member of the UK Government Committee on Climate Change and is a former Deputy Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Research interests: carbon markets, the economics of education and the social costs of climate change.

Dr Hans-Martin Füssel is a specialist in conceptual frameworks for climate change adaptation assessment, notably ‘Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Human Health’ for the World Health Organisation. He is a senior research fellow at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Research interests: Global climate change vulnerability assessment, international adaptation funding, climate change and global inequity, climate change and human health, welfare optimization in global climate-economy models.

Discussant: Ms. Rebecca McNaught.
Rebecca is Senior Programme Officer for the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre. She supports these organisations in the Asia Pacific region to better understand and address the humanitarian issues of climate change, and works globally to engage Red Cross/Red Crescent youth on the topic.

Tuesday 2nd June, 5.30-7pm
Venue: Economics and Commerce Building ‘The Spot’, 198 Berkeley Street, Carlton
Bookings: 8344 3099
email: cprebble@unimelb.edu.au
This event is part of Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Week – www.climatechange.vic.gov.au

the-costs-of-climate-change

“Debunking the mythmakers: Plimer, climate deniers and the coal industry”

Prof David Karoly, Univ of Melbourne

1pm, Monday 25 May 2009,  Joe Nap Room B, 2nd Floor, Union House, Univ. of Melbourne.

Climate change deniers have been exposed yet some, like Ian Plimer, continue to write books. Humanity gains nothing from these lies, but a tiny minority of rich fossil-fuel entrepreneurs in the coal industry will benefit.

The federal government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the Federal Budget also benefit coal.

At University of Melbourne we believe we could be leading the nation with renewable energy research and technology, but we are being dragged back into the fossilised past with an ongoing commitment to the false promise of cleansing coal.

The Environment Department of UoM Student Union will host this important forum to discuss climate change, myths and coal. Plenty of time to ask questions of David Karoly and discuss the issues.

David Karoly is an Australian scientist and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 2 and a member of the faculty of the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

Contact environment@union.unimelb.edu.au Judy McVey 0418 347 374