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Research is not immune to climate change

Nature Climate Change volume 10, pages 180–183 (2020)Cite this article

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Researchers are more accustomed to writing about climate change than adapting their work to it. But as climate change impacts on the research sector become more evident, rapid adaptation is needed.

Loss of life, devastated landscapes, disrupted services, ruined belongings, insurance costs, mental health distress. These are increasingly recognizable as some of the impacts of climate change1. Vital to documenting, anticipating and addressing such impacts is research undertaken by trained researchers. Yet these impacts are more than a specialist research topic. They are an escalating threat to research itself.

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Fig. 1: Fire damage to ecological research sites.

Heath Milne.

Fig. 2: Damage to research infrastructure and equipment due to extreme weather events.

Steven Harwin, with permission from Arko Lucieer.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Ballard and colleagues at NSW Department of Primary Industries and the University of New England, S. Newman at the Australian National University, and S. Harwin and A. Lucieer at the University of Tasmania for sharing their photos with us. We also thank M. Germano and B. Verlie for assistance with background research.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Centre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Lauren Rickards

  2. School of Earth and Environmental Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    James E. M. Watson

  3. Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, USA

    James E. M. Watson

Authors
  1. Lauren Rickards
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  2. James E. M. Watson
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Correspondence to Lauren Rickards.

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Rickards, L., Watson, J.E.M. Research is not immune to climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 180–183 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0715-2

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