August 16, 2019

What climate change means for Australia’s coasts, oceans

Climate scientist to speak at Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture

Renowned climate scientist Professor Gretta Pecl will present this year’s Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture at the University of Wollongong on Friday 16 August.

Professor Pecl is the Director of the Centre for Marine Socioecology at the University of Tasmania and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. Her talk is titled, “What does climate change mean for Australia’s coasts and oceans?”

Professor Pecl, who has been studying the impact of warmer water on ocean species, said our natural systems are changing.

“What is important is that we understand the changes that are coming, we prepare for them and we adapt the best we can,” Professor Pecl said.

To understand the long term impacts of climate change, Professor Pecl and her international colleagues are working in global ocean hotspots that are the fastest warming ocean regions in the world. 

“Hotspots are like natural laboratories in many ways. It's like peering into the future,” she said.

“We can watch how climate change is already impacting the fastest warming regions and assess what those impacts might mean for food security and seafood industries across the globe.”

In a bid to map species that might be shifting where they live in response to environmental changes, she has enlisted the help of thousands of recreational fishers, SCUBA divers, boaters and naturalists.

In her lecture, Professor Pecl will also discuss how the broader community can help to adapt to the impact of climate change on our oceans.

EVENT DETAILS

What:    Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture

When:    5.30pm, Friday 16 August

Where:  Building 43, Level G, Room 1, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue

ABOUT THE ALLAN SEFTON MEMORIAL LECTURE

The late Allan Sefton was well known to residents of the Illawarra and further afield for his work as a naturalist and conservator of the local environment. In recognition of his contributions to environmental science in the Illawarra, the Allan Sefton Memorial Lecture was established in 1993 and is a public occasion where a distinguished Australian scientist speaks on a topic of wide environmental interest.