Please join us for an upcoming RE&D Research Notes webinar, hosted by the Resources, Environment and Development group (RE&D), Crawford School of Public Policy.
Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme wildfires in Southeast Asia and Australia. Smoke haze pollution from forest fires, waste burning and agricultural activities exacerbate respiratory and cardiovascular illness, causing premature deaths and disproportionately impacting women, children, and Indigenous communities. Transboundary smoke haze and its associated effects on human health are shared problems requiring interventions to be implemented across international jurisdictions. The causes of smoke haze are also deeply entrenched in local social, political, industrial and economic systems.
Policy making and community engagement are, hence, essential for effective adaptation and mitigation interventions. The CANBREATHE and HEAL-HAZE projects, led by the HEAL Global Research Centre (University of Canberra), apply climate attribution, chemistry-transport modelling and health impact assessment methods, as well as citizen science and storylines, to assess the influence of climate change on the risk and characteristics of extreme wildfires and related smoke haze exposure in heavily affected regions of Southeast Asia and Australia. Clean air interventions are also tested in schools and households in these regions to develop targeted public health advice and co-design innovative health protection communication tools.
Event Speakers
Professor Sotiris Vardoulakis
Sotiris Vardoulakis is Professor of Environmental Public Health, Director of the Health Research Institute at the University of Canberra and the NHMRC Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network. He currently coordinates the CANBREATHE, HEAL-HAZE and CLIMATERES projects on wildfire smoke, heat impacts, and climate change adaptation in Southeast Asia and Australia.