Conference Speakers

Community Action on Climate Change

Developing networks in the Channel's coastal communities

Saturday 26th November 2005 Community Base, 113 Queens Rd, Brighton

How will climate warming change the inshore fish communities of southern England?
Dr. Peter Henderson

Using data collected over the last 25 years, recent changes in fish and crustacean populations are summarised. The role of the key climatic variables sea water temperature, the North Atlantic Oscillation, wind speed and rainfall in determining abundance and distribution of fish is described and the prediction of future fish communities in our waters discussed.
Dr. Peter Henderson is a director of Pisces Conservation Ltd. and a Senior Research Associate of the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. He is the author of a number of books on ecology and has worked extensively on aquatic systems in many parts of the world including Amazonia, the USA and England. He specialises in the population dynamics of inshore fish and crustaceans and his main study areas are in the Bristol Channel and the Hudson Estuary, New York. Recent research has focused on the environmental factors that determine fish and crustacean abundance.
For more information: www.irchouse.demon.co.uk

How will climate change affect us locally?
Mark Goldthorpe

This presentation will look at the impact of climate change on our local communities, particularly with regard to our day to day lives, economy, development etc, and what is going on in the region to face these issues.
Mark Goldthorpe is Programme Manager of South East Climate change Partnership. The mission of the South East Climate Change Partnership is to investigate, inform and advise on the threats and opportunities arising from the impacts of climate change in South East England and to promote adaptive planning in the region. The Partnership brings together diverse public, private and voluntary sector organisations with a shared recognition of the need to adapt to the likely impacts of climate change. It aims to help its members and stakeholders to develop integrated responses. This includes the need to take advantage of any opportunities that arise from changes as well as reducing the threats. The Partnership also serves as a link with national organisations such as the UK Climate Impacts Programme and those in other regions of the UK who are addressing similar issues.
For more information: www.climatesoutheast.org.uk

The physical aspects of climate change along the Channel coastlines.
Faye Gillespie

Located along the Channel coastlines are a diverse range of landforms and habitats, some of which are very rare on a global scale. The coastline is also heavily urbanised and the impacts of sea-level rise and coastal erosion have implications for inhabited areas. For these reasons the Beaches at Risk Project has been researching trends of coastal erosion, sea-level rise and increased storminess along the Channel coasts. However, it has proved difficult, for certain reasons, to reconcile local research and trends with larger scale predictions. Some of the findings of the Beaches at Risk research are reported in this presentation along with cost implications for coastal defence.

Faye Gillespie works for Beaches at Risk (BAR) project. BAR is a 6 year project funded by the European Union, which focuses on the Channel areas of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and Kent in England and Seine Maritime, Somme, Nord and Pas-de-Calais in France. The project aims to highlight the importance of effective beach management for coastal defence, dune rehabilitation, tourism and biodiversity conservation. It will identify beaches suffering greatest erosion on both the Channel coasts, assess their susceptibility to predicted sea level rise and increased storminess, identify nature conservation sites that would be lost or damaged as a result (including vegetated shingle and dunes), and identify the risks for coastal management. Cross Channel research and sharing of expertise and information will better inform regionally coherent coastal management policies.
For more information: http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/BAR/