A free public lecture at Charles Darwin University will explore the alarming drivers of climate change and threats to tropical forests around the world.
Professor William Laurance achieved national recognition recently when he was named as one of 15 world-class researchers across Australia to receive a 2010 Laureate Fellowship.
It is the latest honour for the Distinguished Research Professor and Prince Bernhard Chair in International Nature Conservation. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Research Associate at Harvard University, and former President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, the world’s largest scientific organisation devoted to the study and wise use of tropical ecosystems.
This honour will allow Professor Laurance to advance Australian leadership in tropical conservation science. This cutting-edge program will forge practical solutions to urgent concerns while promoting an array of new research challenges, opportunities, and sources of international funding for Australian scientists.
On Friday at CDU, Professor Laurance will deliver an urgent account of new and emerging threats to tropical ecosystems and how the new drivers of tropical forest destruction and key perils to biodiversity have changed.
“Climate change is an increasingly emerging and potentially serious driver of change in the tropics,” Professor Laurance said.
William Laurance is Professor at the School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns.
The lecture entitled “Paradise in peril: Emerging threats to tropical forests” will be held on Friday, August 13 from 12noon to 1.30pm at CDU, Casuarina campus in the Mal Nairn Auditorium.
The event is free, but registration is required for catering purposes. To register visit www.cdu.edu.au/publiclecture.
The CDU public lecture series provides a platform for leading academics and experts to apply their knowledge to today’s critical issues.