By Dr Danilo Urzedo (CSIRO)
Summary: Digital advancements are increasingly influencing knowledge production to suggest ways of enhancing the efficiency and precision of conservation practices and policies. From environmental big data to generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), a rising number of technological conservation developments are designed and deployed to inform decisions, mobilise participation, and automate labour-intensive tasks. By drawing on Global South perspectives of decoloniality, this talk will present formulations on environmental data justice and how data-driven AI tools shape the legitimacy of conservation expertise. While these conservation technologies seek to facilitate the accessibility and effectiveness of informed decisions, data-driven AI systems can also reinforce or exacerbate power asymmetries and critical injustices. This talk will emphasise the case of chatbot developments and their associated epistemic consequences for conservation decisions across varied contexts and sites.
By Regina Weiss (Derwent & Tamar Chambers)
Summary: 'Ecocide' refers to the destruction of the environment by humans, which is thought to have found its origins in the description of the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. Fast forward more than half a century and the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide has proposed the legal definition for 'Ecocide' to be the "unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts". Global discussions are underway for the crime of Ecocide to become a crime for which individuals can be held criminally responsible before the ICC, with recent support from the European Union and other States to do so. Regina discusses in an open forum at IMAS topics including jurisdiction of the crime of ecocide before the ICC, the proposed definition, where it should sit in the ICC's governing treaty - the Rome Statute, procedural/evidentiary considerations and the obligations of Member States including Australia if it were included in the Rome Statute.
Bio: Regina Weiss is a Tasmanian barrister who previously served as prosecution trial lawyer at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for nine years on cases emanating predominantly from east Africa before returning to Tasmania in 2021. Since her call to the Bar, Regina was listed on the exclusive ICC List of Counsel for Victims and Defence and is the ICC Bar Association (ICCBA) Focal Point on sexual and gender-based violence. Regina was recently appointed as Chair of the ICCBA Working Group on Ecocide, which was formed to consider key issues and provide advice in the international arena on the proposed inclusion of the crime of Ecocide in the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, the Rome Statute.
Every morning from 11-15th December 2023, CMS & IMAS hosted a special online webinar series titled 'The Long Hot Summer: Getting Ahead of the Heatwave'.
Please see original event page for the webinar series here: The Long Hot Summer: Getting Ahead of the Heatwave (CMS Events)
Background: Australia's southeast is currently up to 4 degrees warmer than expected, with a projected marine heatwave that is expected to be off the scale, raising the prospect of significant impacts to conservation, fishing and aquaculture. This necessitates extensive climate-related communications and sharing of knowledge from (and among) industry, government, researchers, NGO’s and others. Whilst communication is necessary, it unfortunately also raises legitimate concerns regarding increasing anxiety of individuals. Current research suggests that communication regarding climate extreme events needs to include examples of tangible actions that people can do that are constructive and helpful – this can help people feel like they have a degree of agency and are empowered.
Presentation slides and recordings can be accessed below:
Monday 11th December: Hot seas ahead: current and projected ocean and coastal conditions for Tasmania
Ocean and coastal changes and future projections – Chaired by Prof Mary-Anne Lea
Further resources:
Playback 'Day 1' video recording of the webinar series here: Webinar Series: The Long Hot Summer (Day 1) - Video Recording
Tuesday 12th December: Turning up the temperature - impacts on the ecosystem
Biological & ecological changes associated with warming & heatwaves – Chaired by Assoc Prof Kerrie Swadling
Playback 'Day 2' video recording of the webinar series here: Webinar Series: The Long Hot Summer (Day 2) - Video Recording
Wednesday 13th December: From the ocean to the plate - impacts & hot tips for seafood
Implications for fisheries & aquaculture – Chaired by Dr Katie Creswell
Playback 'Day 3' video recording of the webinar series here: Webinar Series: The Long Hot Summer (Day 3) - Video Recording
Thursday 14th December: Heatwave help - what action is happening & what else can we do?
Risks and hazards, preparedness – Chaired by Dr Emily Ogier
Playback 'Day 4' video recording of the webinar series here: Webinar Series: The Long Hot Summer (Day 4) - Video Recording
Friday 15th December: Communicating climate with authenticity to drive action (& minimise anxiety!)
What to communicate and how – Chaired by Prof Gretta Pecl
Further resources:
Playback 'Day 5' video recording of the webinar series here: Webinar Series: The Long Hot Summer (Day 5) - Video Recording
Congratulations to the Curious Climate Tasmania (CCT) team who were a finalist, and one of two ‘highly commended’ awards in the International Green Gown Awards, part of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, in the ‘Benefiting Society’ category.
CCT delivers public-powered scientific engagement, bridging the gap between experts and audiences with credible, relevant information about climate change. CCT is different from most science communication projects in that content is driven by its participants. It asks the Tasmanian community what they want to know about climate change, and responds directly to their questions.
The Curious Climate Tasmania team is a collaboration across UTAS but led by Professor Gretta Pecl (IMAS/CMS) and Dr Chloe Lucas (GPSS/CMS) and is a novel and highly successful science engagement program that links experts and the broader community to provide credible, relevant information about climate change but is importantly driven by public interests.
Read more and watch a short video here: University of Tasmania, Australia | Green Gown Awards.
CMS was lucky to have a fourth year Arts student from Beaux-arts de Paris, Sarah el Idrissi, spend several weeks with CMS. Here is a short video she made during a visit to Maria Island with CMS Director Professor Gretta Pecl, and marine ecologists Professor Sean Connell and Adriana Vergés. The video is set to music from the Bahrain pearl divers men’s choir
Supported by CMS, this film explores Tasmanian Aboriginal connection to kelp forests. The film also features CMS affiliate Dean Greeno, and was released January 6th at an amazing launch event. Watch the film and see the pics here.
Prof Gretta Pecl is an Ambassador for Business Events Tasmania
Abstract: Our global society is severely addicted to a particular vision of the world and a future that has become both unsustainable and undesirable. The facts about our predicament – climate and environmental disruption, biodiversity loss, growing inequality, financial instability, eroding democracy – have been known for decades. However, the solutions have also been known for just as long. So why have we not made faster progress? What is holding us back? This talk frames our current predicament as a societal addiction to a ‘growth at all costs’ economic paradigm. While economic growth has produced many benefits, its side effects are now producing existential problems that are rapidly getting worse. We can learn from what works at the individual level to overcome addictions to design therapies that may work at the societal scale. The first step to recovery is recognizing the addiction and that it is leading to disaster. However, simply pointing out the dire consequences of our societal addiction can be counterproductive by itself in motivating change. The key next step is creating a truly shared vision of the kind of world we all want. We need to design and test creative ways to implement this societal therapy. The final step is using that shared vision to motivate the changes needed to achieve it, including adaptive transformations of our economic systems, property rights regimes, and governance institutions.
Please see below recording of the webinar.
This webinar explored climate change adaptation from the cutting-edge science to on-the-ground action. Looking at what is happening locally to adapt to the impacts of climate change and Tasmania’s role in broader programs like the National Environmental Science Program.
This forum was hosted by the patron of National Science Week Tasmania and CMS member, Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas.
Panel:
• Associate Professor Sarah Boulter, Associate Professor in Climate Change Adaptation, University of Tasmania and Climate Adaptation Mission Lead, National Environmental Science Program
• Katrina Graham, Senior Climate Change Officer, Hobart City Council
