University of Adelaide PhD candidate Bobbie Lewis Baida has been recognised for her research into sheep as the overall winner at the SA Climate Change Leaders Awards.
Ms Lewis Baida was initially the inaugural winner for the new Research and Education category, at last night's awards, before taking the overall prize, along with the $10,000 bursary, which she will use to further her research.
The award is an acknowledgment of her recent research into the potential impact of a one degree Celsius rise in global temperatures on sheep reproduction.
At the ceremony held at U City on Franklin Street, Ms Lewis Baida was honored to have her research acknowledged.
"I was honestly speechless, I really didn't expect it at all, I was truly humbled just to be a finalist for the education and research category," she said.
"To win the category and win overall was just really, really amazing."
Ms Lewis Baida said winning this award would allow her to expand her research.
"I really want to look at heat resilience and try to find potential bio markets and seeing whether it's sort of penetrable," she said.
"One of things I want to look at is specifically heat shock protein in the blood that helps protect the body against heat stress, that's one of the things I'll be putting the funds towards."
The unanswered questions and lack of knowledge surrounding the effects of climate change on sheep was a key motivation for Ms Lewis Baida's research.
"Just the way climate change is progressing, we're seeing these effects in extensive sheep production systems and there's still not a great understanding of what's going on in the paddock and how these animals are coping with the heat," she said.
"They consider them to be relatively resilient animals, but we know from intensive trials, the impact heat can have on fertility and on the developing embryos of the ewes, as well as the semen quality and fertility in the rams as well."
Deputy Premier of SA and Climate, Environment and Water Minister Susan Close acknowledged the work of Ms Lewis Baida as a way to help prepare for the effects of climate change.
"Bobbie's work is an excellent example of how we can use science and innovation to better prepare ourselves for the predicted climate change coming our way," she said.
Other winners on the night include community award recipient Deidre Knight, for building awareness of climate change through biodiversity projects in urban communities and government winner SA Water for its Zero Cost Energy Future initiative.
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In the business and industry category, CH4 Australia was recognised for innovation and leadership in working towards a solution to reduce methane emissions using locally grown Asparagopsis seaweed feed supplements.
CH4 Australia general manager Adam Main said the company was thrilled to have been recognised by the South Australian government as a leader in climate change.
"With Asparagopsis having been proven to reduce methane in ruminants by up to 90 per cent, we're working with feedlot and aquaculture partners to reach wider markets locally and internationally, as we know Asparagopsis can drastically reduce emissions and make a real difference," he said.
CH4 Global's ambitious methane-reduction plan is aiming within five years to have its Asparagopsis feed supplement being fed to 150 million cattle -10pc of the world total- and equivalent to a gigaton of CO2.
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