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BY: MARY O'CONNELL

Associate Professor Ron Cox of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the Convenor for the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Network for Settlements and Infrastructure.

Gold Coast Broadwater - adaptation for climate change needed Ron Cox

In 2008 the Australian Government committed funding of $10 million over four years to establish eight national research networks investigating the effects of climate change on areas such as water resources, human health, emergency services, settlements and infrastructure, and biodiversity. 

Nine out of ten Australians live within 50kms of the coast and the UNSW hosted Network for Settlements and Infrastructure will be focusing on the impacts of climate change on coastal settlements, public and private infrastructure – including building and facility design and construction - urban water security, flooding and stormwater overflow. The Network will also be fully exploring the social, economic and institutional implications of climate change impacts, and the resulting implications for planning, design and management of Australian settlements and infrastructure.

The Network which will be based at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering is part of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility hosted by Griffith University. The aim of the Facility and the Networks is to lead the research community in a national interdisciplinary effort to generate the information needed by decision-makers in government and in vulnerable sectors and communities to manage the risks of climate change impacts.

For A/Prof Cox, who was named Engineers Australia’s Sir John Holland Civil Engineer of the Year in 2008, heading the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Settlements & Infrastructure provides him with a groundbreaking opportunity to bring together scholars and stakeholders who, hitherto, have largely operated in isolation. Their shared knowledge and expertise can now be brought to bear in assessing the vulnerabilities of Australia’s settlements, infrastructure and built environment and developing adaptation responses to predicted climate change.

The Network incorporates broad engineering based research and information networks established through the various committees and panels of Engineers Australia, and the existing sustainable research network involving the major urban research centres across the nation, the Australian Sustainable Cities and Regions Network.  ‘The aim is to make research into climate change adaptation in both the physical and human aspects of Australia’s settlements and infrastructure a truly multi-disciplinary enterprise,’ A/Prof Cox says. ‘In this way, we can build our understanding and national adaptive capacity and reduce our vulnerability to climate change in key sections and regions of the country.’

The Network has established sub-nodes in Adelaide (led by Michael Taylor, Uni SA and Graeme Hugo, Adelaide Uni ), Gold Coast ( Rodger Tomlinson, Griffith Uni), Faculty Built Environment (Bill Randolph, UNSW) and Water Research Centre (Bill Peirson and Richard Stuetz, UNSW).

More information is at:

http://www.nccarf.edu.au/?q=node/1