2010 - Volume 13 Number 5
Climate change is happening, is primarily caused by human activity and is complex.
Studies of various scenarios of temperature rise predict that Australia will experience increasing difficulties with its river systems, with water availability for agriculture, industry, residential purposes and broader environmental needs.
There will be coastal flooding due to sea level rise, increasing extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones, heat waves, and extreme precipitation. Infrastructure and public health will suffer. For example:
- a 2-3° rise will mean an expansion of the dengue transmission zone as far as Brisbane and the malaria zones will increase;
- temperature related mortality for those 65 and over will increase by 89-123%, to 200% with a 3-4° rise.
Although Australia has a particularly vulnerable eco-system, it can draw on significant resources to adapt to the changes; resources that it has accrued through GHG pollution.
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