NSW Govt backs bushfire risk research centre

Oct 13, 2006

With global climate change and increasing human population increasing the threat posed by bushfires, the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation and the NSW Rural Fire Service have joined with the University of Wollongong (UOW) to establish the Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires.

Minister for Regional Development, Small Business, Water Utilities and the Illawarra David Campbell opened the centre at the University today (Friday, 13 October) at a ceremony attended by UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton, NSW Department of Environment and Conservation Director General Lisa Corbyn and NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Phil Koperberg.

Mr Campbell said the NSW Government was determined to meet the challenge of better managing the State’s bushfire risk to both human and environmental assets.

“Bushfires are a fact of life in Australia, but that doesn’t mean we can’t develop better ways to reduce their impact on human life, on property and on the environment,” Mr Campbell said. “This Centre has a very important role to play in developing strategies that meet that challenge.”

Mr Campbell said the NSW Government would provide $1.2 million in funding for the centre over the next five years.

The Centre has been established following the COAG National Inquiry Into Bushfire Mitigation and Management, which highlighted the challenges of managing bushfires, and the fire regimes needed to help reduce the risk to human life and property and environmental assets.

UOW Faculty of Science Dean Professor Rob Whelan, one of Australia’s leading authorities on the ecological effects of bushfires, was a member of the Inquiry’s three-person expert panel, which concluded that Australia needed to improve the scientific basis for sustainable risk management of bushfires, especially in the face of increasing human population and changing climate.

“The Centre represents a three-way collaboration between land managers, fire-fighters and researchers. This combination is the best way to meet the challenges of managing bushfires,” Professor Whelan said. “There is an urgent need for better information about bushfires and their effects on both people ands environmental assets. Significant knowledge-gaps restrict our ability to make informed choices about strategies to protect people and conserve our natural environment.”

Professor Ross Bradstock, formerly with the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, has been appointed Director of the new Centre. He has a strong research interest in global climate change. His research indicates that the Sydney Basin faces an increase of up to 20% in the area under risk of major bushfires by the middle of the 21st century as a result of climate change.

For further information contact Professor Rob Whelan on (02) 4221 3530 or 0408 960 755 (m).

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128