Professor Roger Stone addresses international climate workshop

Director of the Australian Centre for Sustainable Catchments (ACSC) at USQ Professor Roger Stone has addressed an International Climate Workshop in Tokyo.

Professor Stone was a keynote speaker at the Workshop, which looked at the applications of advanced climate information in the Asia Pacific Region.

'The Workshop was organised by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Ocean Research Foundation and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to discuss ways of ensuring information regarding climate has value to decision makers,' Professor Stone said.

'We identified exactly the type of climate information that was required so that proper decisions could be made by industry and government in the Asia Pacific region.

'It also looked at what had to be done to make this information practical for the community.'

As Australia and Queensland’s representative, Professor Stone presented ‘best practices of climate information application in the agricultural sector’.

'There were three areas that were covered; agriculture, water resource management, and risk management in the business sector,' he said.

'The Workshop focused on the decision making in these areas, as climate forecasting and climate information may have little value unless it can change a key management decision.

'It also showed the importance of making sure that community and industry are involved in the process.'

With climate change an issue of immense interest worldwide, Professor Stone said that South East Queensland was playing an integral role in providing key research capability in climate research and climate applications research for industry.

'Here in South East Queensland we are famous internationally through work performed in agencies such as the Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit, the ACSC, the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) and the Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW).

'We have the Science here in South East Queensland and the agencies are all known for working together and providing strong leadership and developing management systems associated with dealing with climate and variability and climate change.'

While Professor Stone was representing the University at the Workshop he was also there on behalf of the United Nations (UN) Commissions for Climatology and Agricultural Meteorology and the Queensland Government.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628