Researchers from the University’s Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) group will be joined by international experts to present their findings on the history of human responses to climate change.
Studies on environmental impacts spanning from the Pleistocene era to the present day will be discussed by researchers across the UK and Europe at the one-day conference in Liverpool. Experts from the University of East Anglia, the University of Plymouth and the University of Potsdam, Germany, will talk about evidence of climate change in Africa and Eurasia in the Pleistocene and Holocene periods.
Liverpool scientists will also discuss their latest research into human impacts on the environment and the effects of climate change on communities, as well as the drivers behind human evolution and the environmental context of early farming practices.
Dr Douglas Baird, Research Champion for the LWEC group, said: “We will discuss what can be learnt from a long term historical perspective on climate issues and consider human impacts on the environment, as well as how climate change and environmental change have affected humans and their communities over the past 2 million years.
“In particular, we will consider what we can learn of relevance to our current predicament, in dealing with the consequences of abrupt climate change and human impact on the environment.”
The LWEC group, led by Professor Ric Williams, Dr Doug Baird, Professor Matthew Baylis, and Dr Neil Gavin, is focused on the drivers of environmental change, such as ocean warming, the effects of the transmission of human and animal diseases, and the political dimensions of environmental concerns. The event aims to bring experts from across the University and elsewhere together to discuss areas of closer collaboration in tackling issues of climate change.
The conference takes place at the Foresight Centre on Friday, 29 June.