South Asia Climate Change Forum. Developing proactive policy and practice for land and water management responsive to climate change
The forum will take place at the Melbourne Museum, 5 – 9 July, 2010.
The Monash Sustainability Institute, in conjunction with the Monash Asia Institute, is holding a one week Climate Change forum focussing on South Asia (particularly India and Bangladesh). This forum is supported by AusAID’s Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship (ALAF) and is part of a six week program for visiting scholars from India and Bangladesh. The large coastal areas of South Asia are particularly exposed to climate change impacts including floods, coastal inundation, storm surge, and cyclones. Furthermore, increased frequency and severity of droughts will further impact on South Asian countries, particularly rural communities. Community well-being and health will be an important part of the evaluation of climate change impacts undertaken at the forum. Similarly, the nexus between population growth, increased demand for natural resources, land and water management, and climate change will be addressed. Changes in climate, and in land and water management, will also influence major river basins, particularly those subject to Himalayan ice melts and hydroelectric dams. The one week forum takes a multidisciplinary approach to evaluating likely consequences of climate change and addresses the need for integrated policy development taking a knowledge management approach. Experts from Monash University, and other Australian research agencies will join scholars from the India Institute of Technology Bombay, the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka University, the University of Calcutta, Osmania University, Hyderabad and the Gandhi Open University, Delhi.
Draft program available here.
For further information contact: Simon Rowntree