Report from the inquiry into the 2022 Victorian Floods. The Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee’s report makes 73 recommendations to the Victorian Government, including increased collaboration with scientists to understand how modelling can be used to better predict climate change impacts on flooding and improve resilience to extreme weather events.

In the coming years, plant species in botanic gardens and urban landscapes will likely confront conditions they have never experienced before. The lessons learned in the context of a botanic garden are applicable to landscapes beyond their own garden gate. Collaboration between botanic gardens across the globe is essential in understanding how plants will grow and survive in a warming climate.

Of all the world’s oceans, the Southern Ocean absorbs the majority of human-generated heat and carbon, helping to slow the pace of climate change and keep our planet liveable. Meanwhile, the vast ice sheets of Antarctica act as an ‘air conditioner’ for our planet, reflecting 50-70% of incoming solar radiation. The Southern Ocean is a ‘natural laboratory’ for vital scientific research, impossible to achieve anywhere else on the planet.

Although economists work to better understand and model the interactions between climate change and the economy, many do not factor in all the latest scientific evidence, disregarding sensitive ‘tipping points’ in the climate system, and overlooking the market impacts of climate-induced hazards such as flooding, wildfires, and extreme heat. We must urgently create bridges between science and finance.

Climate change is a growing threat to human wellbeing, environmental ecosystems, and the entire planet. The alarming warming trends continue and the evidence for human activity driving global change is only becoming stronger. But, while warning of the damage that lies in our future, climate expert Professor David Karoly assures us “we can limit it to avoid complete catastrophe.”