One and a half million Australians living in coastal areas are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, a landmark climate report has warned.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s first National Climate Risk Assessment predicted more frequent and severe climate hazards like floods, cyclones, heatwaves, droughts and bushfires.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralians are already living with the consequences of climate change today,\u201d Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said, \u201cbut it\u2019s clear every degree of warming we prevent now will help future generations avoid the worst impacts in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report looked at three global warming scenarios \u2013 above 1.5C, above 2C and above 3C.<\/p>\n
Australia \u2013 one of the world\u2019s biggest polluters per capita -has already reached warming of above 1.5C, the report said, noting that at 3C, heat-related deaths in Sydney may rise by more than 400% and almost triple in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The 72-pagereport \u2013 released days before the government announces its emissions reduction targets for 2035 \u2013 found that no Australian community will be immune from climate risks that will be \u201ccascading, compounding and concurrent\u201d.<\/p>\n
It warned of more heatwave-related deaths, poorer water quality due to severe flooding and bushfires, and property values to drop by A$611bn ($406bn; \u00a3300bn).<\/p>\n
By 2050, the report found the number of coastal communities located in \u201chigh and very high risk areas\u201d in Australia will increase and if populations levels remain at current levels, this will mean more than 1.5 million people will be at risk.<\/p>\n
Areas in northern Australia, along with remote communities and outer suburbs of major cities, were particularly at risk, the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will put pressure on health, critical infrastructure, natural species and ecosystems, and primary industries,\u201d the report warned, as well as posing extra challenges for emergency responders.<\/p>\n
The report also found that coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia \u2013 both already hit by record bleaching events \u2013 will face higher risks of \u201cbleaching and biodiversity loss\u201d due to warmer oceans.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that is very clear from this climate assessment is that our whole country has a lot at stake,\u201d Bowen said. \u201cThe cost of inaction will always outweigh the cost of action.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the report, the government released a national adaptation plan which detailed how federal, state and local governments can work together to tackle climate issues, according to Bowen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will also set an ambitious and achievable 2035 target, informed by advice from the independent Climate Change Authority,\u201d he said, referring to the body that provides advice on climate policy.<\/p>\n
Australia has pledged to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030, but is criticised for its continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said the report\u2019s findings were terrifying and called on the government to commit to higher emissions cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia cannot afford a timid 2035 target when our own government data shows the catastrophic costs of inaction,\u201d the head of the the non-profit said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer we delay the deep and sustained cuts to climate pollution we need, the harder it becomes to protect communities from escalating heatwaves, floods and bushfire weather.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One and a half million Australians living in coastal areas are at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, a landmark climate report has warned. Australia\u2019s first National Climate Risk Assessment predicted more frequent and severe climate hazards like floods, cyclones, heatwaves, droughts and bushfires. \u201cAustralians are already living with the consequences of climate change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}