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Coral bleaching of Ningaloo reef and flooding of the Swan River estuary are just two of the topics to be discussed at the Greenhouse 2009: Climate Change and Resources conference to be held in Perth from March 23 to 26.

More than 500 delegates from 12 countries will attend the conference, where four researchers from The University of Western Australia will present papers.

Winthrop Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi of UWA's School of Environmental Systems Engineering will ask "Can we expect coral bleaching in Ningaloo Reef under climate change" while Associate Professor Ross Kingwell from UWA's School of Agricultural and Resource Economics will speak on "Low emission farming systems".

"Trends in coastal flooding in the Swan River estuary" is the topic of a paper to be given by UWA's School of Environmental Systems Engineering Matthew Eliot. And UWA History postgraduate student Ruth Morgan will deliver a discussion of the development scientific research into rainfall decline in the south-west of Australia since the 1970s.

The conference is the third in the series and has attracted the highest number of delegates ever registered. National and international climate change scientists will speak on their area of expertise.

Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong, will open the conference via video. The University of Melbourne's Professor Ross Garnaut will then give an opening address, "Global warming and the global financial crisis". WA Premier Colin Barnett and CSIRO CEO Dr Megan Clark will also address the conference.

Other topics to be discussed include "Bushfires and air quality under climate change" by the CSIRO's Mick Meyer; "It's getting hot in here: the impact of climate change on human thermal comfort and heat-related mortality in the Melbourne region" by Nicole Joffe of Net Balance; and "Key challenges for conservation in a greenhouse world" by Dr Guy Midgley, of the South African Biodiversity Institute.

The conference will be at the Burswood Convention Centre, from 9am on Monday, March 23 to 4pm on Thursday, March 26. For more details visit: https://www.csiro.au/news/Greenhouse2009.html

Media references

Simone Hewett (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 7977 / (+61 4) 20 790 097