Climate solutions built from smart research

The effects of climate change have consequences far beyond the natural environment, with ramifications on the number of premature births, respiratory disease, hospitalisation of children and more. But Flinders University researchers are undertaking crucial investigations that will lead to practical solutions.

The tentacle effects of climate change have consequences reaching far beyond the natural environment, with ramifications that also affect the economy, as well as the physical health and mental health of the broader population.

Immediate concerns focus on measuring the effects of climate change on our environment, and Flinders University researchers are undertaking crucial investigations to measure climate variations that will lead to practical solutions.

Health warnings for future generations

Climate change is triggering far-reaching health effects on people – with predictions of increased numbers of premature births, higher incidence of respiratory disease and death, and more children in hospitals due to the impacts of extreme climate change.

Global Ecology Professor Corey Bradshaw is part of an international team whose study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment shows that the risk of a premature birth will increase by an average of 60 per cent from exposure to extreme temperatures.

This research has collected all the available scientific evidence for the effects of climate change on children’s health, and the data identified which particular climate-driven extremes are linked to certain detrimental health impacts for future generations.

“Climate change is universal and adversely affecting all countries and people, and we must prepare societies for mounting threats to child health,” says Professor Bradshaw, who wants the research results to prompt urgent change in several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Researchers also warn that extreme temperatures could severely impact cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases and affect mortality rates.

Climate affects people with cancer  

Studies at Flinders University to determine if people with lymphoedema experience symptom variations due to varying weather conditions will provide better treatment outcomes for patients trying to cope with longstanding swelling in their limbs.

Flinders PhD candidate Susan Witt, who has presented her initial focus group results to the Lymphoedema Association of South Australia, says the impact of climate change on lymphoedema needs to be addressed with revised patient treatments.

This work builds on long-term lymphoedema research at Flinders University, led by Professor Neil Piller, Director of the Lymphoedema Clinical Research Unit based at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer.

The magnitude of climate-related problems is even leading to increased psychological despair among many climate activists, with Flinders’ Dr Lucy Bird examining the troubling trend of despair and fatigue among those who work for environmental groups. 

Dr Bird is exploring how people can overcome despair and maintain motivation to fight climate change and also explore pragmatic steps to address climate change “burnout” that will ensure continued motivation to avert the climate crisis and ensure a positive future.                                       

Planning for our future resilience

Hydrology experts are using new technology to map land areas that are experiencing hotter, dryer conditions under climate change that will affect water supplies and sustainable agriculture.

Investigators from the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training at Flinders University have worked with Chinese and other Australian researchers to study the effects of droughts on heatwaves, vegetation health and soil salinity.

The results have helped improve the use of remote sensing technology that monitors the salinity of irrigated agricultural soils and drought impacts on vegetation health.

This data also assesses the large-scale effects of global warming and increasing rainfall variability, aridification, soil degradation and food security. Clearly identifying these problems will help plan for future resilience of our environment and agricultural systems. 

Data to help direct the best way forward

Publishing such important research has placed Flinders experts at the front of urgent calls to prepare for climate extremes – especially in South Australia, where temperature and rainfall data over the past 50 years show an increase in maximum temperatures by 1.1°C and minimum temperatures by 0.7°C, as well as reduced rainfall. 

This points to more intense and extended drought periods, extreme summer heatwaves alongside occasional extremes such as frost and flood.

Flinders University’s Professor Patrick Hesp, an expert in coastal dune systems, says that continued decline in SA’s rainfall will lead to increased soil erosion in dry agricultural regions and greater mobility of coastal dunes. He adds that rising sea levels and increasing wave energy are also driving coastal erosion and significant changes to our beaches and dunes.

“We need to focus on climate change mitigation and adapt sustainable management plans to buffer ecosystems and human health and wellbeing, particularly in areas most exposed to these extreme weather patterns,” says Professor Hesp.

“Improved land management practices must include less land clearance, more native plant revegetation and more sustainable agricultural practices, plus better adaptation planning for coastal communities.”

Associate Professor Graziela Miot da Silva of Flinders University has been involved in the placement of Spotter buoys to measure wave height and direction, and temperature in South Australia’s gulfs, and along the Victor Harbor and Robe coasts. These are critical to gather information on wave climate changes and ocean temperature changes driven by climate changes. 

Stresses from climate change are even affecting future animal populations, with Flinders evolutionary biologist Dr Bruno Buzatto examining when climate changes affect mating games. He is part of an international team that discovered environmental stresses, including large variations in rainfall and floods in rivers, change the mating rituals of semi-aquatic Neotropical spiders in Uruguay and Brazil, underlining the cross-generational effects of climate disruption.

The diversity and impact of this varied climate change research provides yet more examples of Flinders University research making lives better.