TERN has sponsored an international conference being held this month in Darwin which brings together more than 100 environmental and climate scientists from Australasia and Asia to share research outcomes on ecosystem, climate and land-use change across the Asia-Pacific region. The inaugural OzFlux-AsiaFlux Joint Conference provides delegates with a wealth of information sharing and networking opportunities on Australia’s doorstep to Asia.
“Asia-Pacific is a region at severe risk,” says conference keynote speaker Professor Andrew Campbell from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). “Our ecosystems are changing rapidly due to a number of factors, including climate change, and the delivery of their immensely valuable services, including clean air and water and food, is threatened.”
“The need for collaborative approaches to land-use monitoring and management in the Asia-Pacific region has never been greater,” said Professor Campbell.
Fellow keynote speaker Professor Hiroyuki Muraoka, of Japan’s Gifu University and chair of ILTER East Asia and Pacific Regional Network seconds Professor Campbell’s call and says that the first step in sustainably managing our ecosystems is to bring together environmental scientists, such as ecologists, micro-meteorologists, remote sensing experts, and modellers, from the region and foster multidisciplinary understanding on our ecosystems, and also to engage users in scientific knowledge.
“Since ecosystem processes are the fundamental and cross-cutting issue of our environment, development of coordinated and concerted observations of ecosystems and biodiversity by networking the networks across the Asia-Pacific region is an urgent need from Earth observation communities,” said Professor Muraoka.
To this end and in response to such calls by Professors Campbell and Muraoka and their colleagues, this month’s inaugural OzFlux – AsiaFlux Joint Conference (OAFlux18) brings together environmental and climate scientists and managers from countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal with broad ranging expertise, including micro-climatologists, ecosystem physiologists, climate modellers, remote sensors, ecohydrologists, carbon and climate change analysts, data managers, and instrument manufacturers.
Hosted by Charles Darwin University’s Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) from 20-26 of August, OAFlux18 promises to provide delegates with a wealth of information sharing and networking on Australia’s doorstep to Asia.
The conference includes a three-day technical workshop, a three-day scientific meeting and a field day that showcases local ecosystems and the ecosystem processes monitoring infrastructure that is provided by TERN in the Northern Territory.
- For conference registration, schedules and a full list of speakers please visit the OAFlux18 website.
