Global environmental change facing us today will have significant impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem health, but how shall we understand and anticipate such impacts? In particular, can satellite data provide us with valuable information to devise strategies for biodiversity monitoring and conservation? On 20 March, the Earth System Science Programme at CUHK was honored to host renowned scientist, Dr. Nathalie Pettorelli, to deliver an engaging public lecture titled “How Satellite Data Tell Us Tales of Changing Biodiversity” addressing these pressing issues at the Yasumoto International Academic Park.

Dr. Pettorelli is a research fellow at the Institute of Zoology in the Zoological Society of London, UK. She has extensive experience assessing and predicting the impacts of global environmental change on biodiversity and ecosystems, with a particular focus on climate change. In the lecture, Dr. Pettorelli provided an overview of the possible applications of satellite data in biodiversity monitoring and conservation, and demonstrated how ecological knowledge and satellite-based information can be effectively combined to address a wide array of current natural resource management needs. The lecture was attended by more than 50 participants from CUHK and the public, including faculty members and students from various Schools and Departments as well as local government officials. An engaging discussion with the participants on an integrated approach for biodiversity protection in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region followed Dr. Pettorelli’s informative and insightful talk.

The captioned public lecture was jointly organized by the Earth System Science Programme in the Faculty of Science and the British Council as part of the Science Alive 2014 program. Science Alive is a collaborative effort by the British Council, the Education Bureau, the Hong Kong Education City Limited and the Hong Kong Science Museum, sponsored by The Croucher Foundation. For the past 21 years Science Alive has been inviting leading academics and communicators from the UK in various fields of science to engage Hong Kong’s students, teachers and the public in activities that promote a wider understanding of science.

Photos of the event