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.