FNAS School of Earth & Geographical Sciences - Report from the Joseph Gentilli Memorial Lecture

Dr Joseph Gentilli The University of Western Australia is pleased to establish this memorial lecture to honour the memory and intellectual legacy of an influential scholar who devoted 60 years of his life to this institution. Joseph Gentilli (1912-2000) commenced teaching at the University soon after arriving in Fremantle from Italy in 1939, and continued to be actively involved with the Geography Department until 2000.

The 2008 Joseph Gentilli Memorial Lecture

Breathing Planet - plants, Kew and you

Wednesday, 02 Jul 2008 18:30 - University Club Theatre Auditorium UWA

Professor Stephen D. Hopper, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK & School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia For the first time, more people now live in cities than in rural areas globally, making the need to stay in touch with nature all the more urgent for a sustainable future. The diversity of plant life in particular is essential to the habitats that form our world, and is vital for our own well-being. The ongoing erosion of wild vegetation is degrading the quality of life for billions of people and prejudicing the drive to eradicate poverty. Deforestation alone accounts for a fifth of man-made CO2 emissions (more than the world’s transport systems). Plant life must be conserved, repaired and restored if climate change is to be moderated and humanity is to have a tolerable future.

Over the past two years, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and its global network of partners have been involved in a process of change - the Breathing Planet Programme - that offers a major contribution to long- term sustainability worldwide. By 2020, this programme will make a substantial impact in countering the environmental challenge by saving threatened plants, restoring habitats and improving the quality of life for people.

Every individual can make a difference to the fundamental need to ensure a breathing planet persists. If we change our behaviours and landscape ethics to encourage plant diversity and make a greener world, the future will be brighter than present forecasts suggest.

Professor Steve Hopper is the 14th Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He holds Visiting Professorships at University of Reading, The University of Western Australia and at Kings Park and Botanic Garden, Perth. He was awarded a Commonwealth Centenary Medal for service to the community in 2003.

For more information: Institute of Advanced Studies, iasuwa@admin.uwa.edu.au, Tel: 6488 1340

Details of the Gentilli Memorial Lecture 2007

The Joseph Gentilli Memorial Lecture was a success in every way. Well attended, the talk by Professor Kurt Lambeck was fascinating for its insights into the significance of sea level changes over thousands of years.

Professor Kurt Lambeck Professor Lambeck's subject was "Sea Level Change Through The Ages: Learning From The Past To Understand The Future", and he presented a fascinating lecture on the controls of sea level change. He highlighted their significance to future sea level events linked to projected climate change. At a local scale he emphasized our understanding of these events and discussed the technologies that are now available to establish available sea level changes.

In the Perth basin these technologies have led to the recognition of surface subsidence probably linked to groundwater extraction. Although of a minor nature now, the changes will need to acknowledged and catered for in future development of Perth.