Photo: David Gray/Getty Images
CSIS PRESENTS
Past Event

Climate Change and the Australian Bushfires: A Singular Catastrophe or The New Normal?

Monday, January 27, 2020 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
CSIS Headquarters, 1st Floor
Australia is being ravaged by the worst bushfires seen in decades. Beginning in 2019, the fires have burnt through 25.5 million acres, the size of Denmark and Belgium combined. At least 27 people are dead, including three volunteer firefighters, and more are missing. Thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged. Australia’s capital cities are experiencing record air pollution, and smoke has been seen as far away as South America. With the fire summer season extending for another few months, the disaster is expected to continue. The scale of these bushfires is unprecedented anywhere in the world.

On Monday, January 27th, 5:00-6:30 pm, please join us for a conversation on the impact of these bushfires on regional politics, public opinion, the health of the population, and national economic growth. We will also discuss the cataclysmic scale of the fires and the climate change drivers that have driven the spread of the fires: are they a single natural disaster – a very bad year in a country accustomed to seasonal fires – or evidence of a long-term profound shift?

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.
Featuring
Jacob Greber
U.S. Correspondent, Australian Financial Review
Dr. Alan Tidwell
Director of the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies (CANZPS) at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service
Kenneth W. Kizer
Chief Healthcare Transformation Officer and Senior Executive Vice President, Atlas Research
CSIS Experts
Sarah Ladislaw
Senior Vice President; Director and Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program
Contact
Contact Samantha Chivers
Tel: 2027753166
Media Queries

Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Caleb Diamond
Media Relations Manager and Editorial Associate
Tel: 202.775.3173

Related
Asia, Asia Program, Australia, New Zealand & Pacific, Climate Change, Climate Change and Sustainability Series, Defense & Geopolitics, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Energy and Sustainability, GHPC Newsletter, Global Health, Global Health Policy Center, The Washington Quarterly on East Asia and the Pacific

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