While it feels like action on climate change can be slow, a lot has happened in the last decade. 10 years ago, scientists were struggling to get funding for climate science. The media stories were written as ‘balanced’ and often included the opinions of climate sceptics. At parties, family gatherings, taxi rides … we were asked ‘This climate change thing isn’t real, is it?’ How things have changed! There is now an avalanche of work as everyone wants to know how climate change will affect them. Companies are being mandated to report their climate risk. There is a high demand for scientists to work on the climate change problem.
While we have certainty about some aspects of climate change, there is still much to uncover. How are extreme rain, tropical cyclones and compound hazards changing and how many more of these will we see each year in Australia? How and where will our oceans warm fastest and how will this affect our marine systems and threatened species? What climate tipping points are we approaching and how real is that threat? How is our land usage helping or impeding carbon in the atmosphere?
The challenge for the NESP Climate Systems Hub is how to answer these complex questions and respond to demand for our science. We are designing the final phases of the NESP Research Plan with that in mind. We are balancing the need to effectively share our information to as many people as possible with our ongoing efforts to understand future climate changes. It is a challenge… but an exciting one when you think back to where we have been. The NESP team is busily working away at this right now and you can look forward to more great developments in the final years of the hub.
As we step towards the next phase for this hub, I also want to acknowledge the hard work of my predecessor Dr Simon Marsland over the last 3 years. Thank you for everything you have done in establishing this hub. In particular, for your championing of our National First Peoples Platform on Climate Change and early career researchers. Best wishes Simon for your next chapter.
Dr Jaci Brown is the Research Director of the Climate Intelligence Program at CSIRO. She is currently the acting hub leader.
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