Themes

Being a National Committee on Water Engineering conference our focus is on meeting the challenges in the water sector as captured in our tagline 'Meeting the Challenges from Catchments to Coasts'. We recognise that this is both an engineering and planning challenge an so have a full program of speakers in the themes: Coasts & Estuaries; Water Resources; Catchments, Floodplains & Waterways; Planning & Policy. Climate change science is not ignored and first day of our program sets the scene with plenary keynotes and a plenary panel based around climate change science. Further details of the themes are provided below.

Coasts & Estuaries

Coastal and estuarine environments respond dynamically to changes in oceanic, terrestrial and atmospheric conditions.
The focus of this stream will be to explore the ways coastal and estuarine environments are likely to respond to climate change and the types of natural hazards and longer term changes and challenges that may arise from this process for natural and human environments that inhabit the coastal zone.

Abstract topics of interest include:

Impact of Climate Change on Coasts and Estuaries

  • Shoreline morphology and adjustment
  • Wave environment
  • Sediment transport and deposition
  • Estuarine hydrodynamics
  • Estuarine and coastal interactions

Coastal Hazards and Management responses to Climate Change

  • Erosion and shoreline recession
  • Inundation
  • Storm surge flooding
  • Habitat transition or loss
  • Estuarine water quality
  • Protect, adapt, retreat, relocate

Water Resources

Climate change and variability presents enormous challenges to water resources management in Australia. Recent experience in prolonged drought in much of Australia has clearly demonstrated the need for adaptation to an uncertain future of water availability.
This theme will learn from recent and past experience, understand climate change impacts on future water resources, and explore adaptation strategies through policy, market, engineering and other measures.
Abstract topics include:

Impacts of climate change on water resources

  • Impacts on water availability and uncertainties
  • Impacts on water demands (incl. urban, D&S, irrigation demands, irrigated culture, environmental demands, hydro demands)
  • Impacts on water quality
  • Bushfire impacts on yield under climate change
  • Changes in catchment conditions and relationships between rainfall and runoff
  • Surface water and groundwater interactions and their impact on water availability
  • Impacts on water security for irrigation, urban consumption and environmental uses and stranded assets

Water resources management in response to climate change

  • Managing water scarcity in the last decade - Lessons for the future
  • Developing the next generation of water management plans
  • Water markets - What next?
  • Water supply and infrastructure - Modernisation, augmentation
  • Providing water for food production and environmental uses

Catchments, Floodplains & Waterways

Climate change has the potential to significantly affect the behaviour of our floodplains, wetlands and waterways. There will be changes in the timing, frequency and magnitude of rainfall events and in the antecedent conditions.
If we are to develop appropriate adaptation responses we will need to understand how climate change will affect runoff behaviour. Adaptation strategies need to target communities and ecosystems at risk. This requires new and improved techniques to estimate the impacts of both too much and too little water.

Abstract topics include:
Impact of Climate Change on Catchments, Floodplains and Waterways

  • Predicting and modelling future storm and runoff behaviour
  • What does the 100 year flood mean now?
  • Design Guidelines and standards in modified climate regime

Catchment, Floodplain, and Waterway Challenges and Management responses to Climate Change

  • Mitigating impacts of extreme events on communities and ecosystems
  • Managing environmental flows in an uncertain future
  • Developing a risk assessment methodology for areas affected by altered runoff behaviour
  • Ecosystems vulnerabilities to altered flow conditions
  • Protect, adapt, retreat, relocate

Planning & Policy

As the interface between land and sea, the coastal zone is particularly vulnerable to physical impacts of climate change and this vulnerability is exacerbated by the socio-cultural and economic importance of the coast.Climate change and its relationship with coastal vulnerability present numerous challenges for coastal planners and land managers, particularly in relation to risk and uncertainty. Decision-makers must continue to make decisions amidst a level of uncertainty whilst the information base is continually and rapidly progressing.
Due to the long life expectancy of structures such as roads and buildings, planning decisions which are made now will have long term repercussions. If we are to successfully plan for the future today, the impacts of climate change on coastal hazards must be incorporated into our decision-making processes now.
To achieve this, policy guidance across all levels of government is necessary to support the consistent application of risk assessment and decision-making frameworks.

Abstract topics include:
Climate change risk assessment in a policy and planning framework

  • Defining, assessing and managing risk
  • Risk assessment methodologies
  • Assessing and understanding coastal vulnerability
  • The local, state and federal government perspective
  • Modelling coastal hazards and the effects of climate change

Planning and Policy Responses to Climate Change

  • The local, state and federal government perspective
  • Coordination across all levels of government
  • Policy thinking at a State and Federal level
  • Legislation - where what and why
  • Responding to climate change through adaptation
  • Building resilient coastal communities against adverse climate
  • Living on the coast with climate change; paradigms may be challenged

Dr Francis Chiew

Dr Francis Chiew

Dr Francis Chiew is a Science Leader in CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra where he leads the surface water hydrology research program. Francis is highly regarded in the areas of hydrological modelling, hydroclimatic variability and climate impact on water, where he has published more than 200 research papers. Francis leads a significant research portfolio and is active in converting research outcomes into products that are widely used by the water industry. His contributions in the climate and water area have allowed policy makers to make more informed risk-based decisions on water planning and management. More recently, Francis has led various projects that contribute to key national initiatives including the CSIRO Sustainable Yields projects and the South Eastern Australia Climate Initiative.

Rob Skinner

Rob Skinner was appointed Managing Director of Melbourne Water in February 2005 and is currently a board member of the Water Services Association of Australia. He is actively involved in a number of innovative sustainability initiatives in Melbourne and has been a leading figure in Victoria's water
sensitive urban development programs. Prior to joining Melbourne Water, he was Chief Executive Officer of Kingston City Council for ten years.
http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/about_us/who_we_are/our_board.asp?bhcp=1

John Ginivan

Mr John Ginivan is the Executive Director Planning Policy with the Department of Planning and Community Development, Victoria. He has extensive experience in metropolitan and regional planning, coastal planning and management and natural resource management. He has represented Victoria on a range of Committees advising the Planning and Local Government Ministers Council and the Natural Resource Ministers Council

Angus Gordon

Angus Gordon

Commencing a coastal engineering career in 1970 with the design of the Port Botany revetment, over the following 40 years Angus undertook projects in all states of Australia and in Brunei, Dubai, Indonesia and Hong Kong. First becoming involved in the issue of climate change in 1976, he was seconded to the Antarctic Division of the Department of Science. In 1987 he published a paper as a chapter in the CSIRO's book "Greenhouse 87". The paper linked sea level rise to coastal erosion at several locations in NSW. He has published a number of papers on climate change and was the lead author of the Engineers Australia original guidelines for adaption to change.

Dr Jaap Schellekens

Dr Jaap Schellekens

Dr. Schellekens graduated at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), The Netherlands, in 1992 (M.Sc). In 2000 Dr. Schellekens received a Ph.D. at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The research on which this Ph.D. was based concerned the hydrological processes and hydrological modelling in a humid tropical environment. Since 2001 Dr. Schellekens has been working for Deltares.. Dr. Schellekens has gained extensive experience in (forest) hydrology, the hydrological implications of land-use and climate change, hydrological modelling (with special reference to flood forecasting) and
hydrometeorological measurement techniques. Dr. Schellekens had lead a number of large projects related to (probabilistic) flood forecasting and has advised a number of agencies on the implementation of the Delft-FEWS system. Currently he is leading several projects on the implications of land-use and climate change in the Dutch delta area. His work has been published in leading scientific journals.