The following is a cross post of a conference announcement that may be of interest to our subscribers.

Practical Responses to Climate Change Conference, 1-3 May, Canberra, Australia

Registrations are now open for the ‘Practical Responses to Climate Change’ conference which will be held in Canberra, Australia, at the National Convention Centre from 1 to 3 May 2012. The theme for 2012 is ‘Water and Climate: Policy Implementation Challenges’.

The conference will provide a forum for presenting strategies for managing a variable and changing climate, with a particular focus on the water sector. It will be an opportunity for policy makers, engineers, business leaders, planners and researchers from a range of disciplines to present, listen to and debate the latest research and practice on water and climate policy implementation challenges in urban, catchment and coastal environments. High profile national and international speakers will be brought together with delegates from around Australia and the world for a series of plenary lectures and contributed papers that will ensure a vibrant and interesting program. Discussion panel sessions at the end of each day will be included to allow a forum for debate of key issues and also presentation and discussion of the most recent thinking.

Just some of the speakers include:

  • James Cameron – CEO, National Water Commission
  • Wendy Craik AM – Commissioner of the Barriers to Climate Change Adaption Inquiry, Productivity Commission
  • Phil Cummins – Deputy Commissioner, Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry
  • Rhondda Dickson – CEO, Murray Darling Basin Authority
  • Leo Dobes – Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
  • Rowan Douglas – CEO Global Analytics, Willis Group & Chairman, WillisRe Research Network
  • Alistair Driver – National Conservation Manager, UK Environment Agency
  • Barbara Norman – Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Canberra
  • Mike Rothery – First Assistant Secretary, National Security Resilience Policy Division, Attorney-General’s Department
  • Harinder Sidhu – First Assistant Secretary – Adaptation, Science and Communication Division Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
  • Caroline Sullivan – Assoc Prof Environment, Economics and Policy, Southern Cross University
  • Rob Vertessy – Acting Director of Meteorology, Bureau of Meteorology

The full program can be downloaded.

The conference is run by Engineers Australia in partnership with the HC Coombs Policy Forum at the Australian National University. Further information on the conference and registrations (including reduced prices for students) can be found at: www.climatechange2012.org