29 January 2020
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has welcomed its role in delivering practical resilience measures in relation to bushfires and climate change, as the country faces continued extreme fire weather in the future.
Announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison today, CSIRO, in collaboration with other agencies and partners, will bring plans and recommendations to Australian Governments on ways we can manage and protect homes, our environment, industries and infrastructure.
Dr Larry Marshall, Chief Executive of the CSIRO said: “Bushfires and drought have always been a challenging, natural part of Australian life, but we are starting to see the impacts of climate change in hotter, drier seasons, which cause more fire danger days.
“This is the time to act, before the effects become larger. Despite our mitigation strategy, climate change will be with us for decades to come, so adaptation is the key immediate action to preserve lives, our economy, and protect our environment.
“CSIRO will provide recommendations on how we can better prepare for and manage bushfires when they occur, including new tools driven by science and technology.
“We will draw on our almost 70-year history of bushfire research across multiple fields of science including land management, building and materials design, fire protection and testing, and biodiversity management.
“But we won’t do this alone.
“We can bring every branch of science and technology to bear on this challenge through our partnerships with every Australian university and every government department or agency.
“We will bring solutions from science for an Australia that will face, head on, a different climate than before, in the same way we have solved some of Australia’s greatest challenges for over 100 years.”
The CSIRO will be supported by an expert panel, chaired by the Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel.
About the CSIRO and its bushfire research
CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency and an Australian authority on fire management, behaviour and prediction.
It has led research to understand and predict the behaviour and spread of bushfires for almost 70 years.
CSIRO’s research is used nationally for determining fire danger warnings, and trains and assists all state agencies in fire behaviour and prediction.
As a multidisciplinary science agency, CSIRO draws on a wide range of disciplines across the organisation for bushfire research including: fire prediction, fire behaviour, fire monitoring, fire suppression, fire testing, bushfire modelling tools, understanding the link between bushfires and greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, fire impacts and recovery planning, post fire-season review and field work that informs building codes, disaster management, Indigenous fire knowledge, community resilience, environmental rehabilitation and climate research.
More information about CSIRO’s Climate research.
More information about CSIRO’s Bushfire research.
Click here to read the full media release.
News release contact:
Huw Morgan
Manager Media Liaison
