Diagnosis Critical: The Lungs of Our Planet

The Environment Institute presented Professor William Laurance at a series of free public events held at the University of Adelaide between 29 and 31 March.

William Laurance is a Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University (previously Senior Staff Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama).  His prolific research career includes the publication of five books and over 300 scientific and popular articles.

His research focuses on the impacts of intensive land-uses, such as habitat fragmentation, logging, and wildfires, on tropical ecosystems, and on global-change phenomena and conservation policy.

The forests of the world are in crisis. Our drive for continued economic growth has had devastating consequences for the world's ecosystems that provide critical human services. Forests are a haven for countless plant and animal species that form the basis of ecological services, these services are the biological mechanisms that make the world our home.

William Laurance shared his prolific observations from a career in tropical ecosystems research in two public seminars.

Click on the links below to view audio visual material from these events.  Each event runs for approximately 50 minutes.

Speaker	Topic	Audio Visual Materials
	Emerging Challenges for Environmental Research in the Tropics 29 March	Podcast (mp 12.8MB) PowerPoint (pdf 9.9MB)
	Diagnosis critical - the lungs of the planet 31 March	Podcast (mp 12.5MB) PowerPoint (pdf 11.7MB)