Adaptation to global warming in Australia

Introduction

According to non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

and global scientific organisations such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the frequency and intensity of disasters brought about by greenhouse gas emissions and climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

will grow rapidly in the world. The risks are particularly severe in some regions of Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

in Queensland, the Macquarie Marshes

Macquarie Marshes

The Macquarie Marshes comprise the wetlands associated with the floodplains of the Macquarie River and its tributaries, in northern New South Wales, Australia. The Macquarie River and the marshes eventually drain into the Darling River...

in New South Wales. The Department of Climate Change

Department of Climate Change (Australia)

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is an Australian Government department, currently led by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet...

said in its Climate Change Impacts and Costs fact sheet: "...ecologically rich sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Wet Tropics,
Kakadu Wetlands, Australian Alpine areas, south-western Australia and sub-
Antarctic islands are all at risk, with significant loss of biodiversity projected to
occur by 2020". It also said: "Very conservatively, 90 Australian animal species have so far bee identified at risk from climate change, including mammals, insects, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians from all parts of Australia." Australia is already the driest populated continent in the world.

Climate change

Climate change

is recognised as one of the largest global crises. The issue has gained traction around the world as the world becomes increasingly urbanised. This is because urbanisation brings irreversible changes in our patterns of resource/waste production and consumption. Therefore, how to plan, manage and live in cities in the light of global warming largely determines and depends on the progress of the climate change phenomenon.

According to projections by the Department of Climate Change

Department of Climate Change (Australia)

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is an Australian Government department, currently led by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet...

in Australia, it is expected that national average temperatures would increase by 0.4 to 2.0 °C http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/impacts/projections/index.html. Rainfall patterns and the degree of droughts and storms brought about by extreme weather conditions are likely to be affected.

Research has suggested that nearly three quarters of global energy consumption occur in cities, while emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming come from urban areas. Nearly a third of these emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels used in urban transportation. Another third is formed from the energy used to regulate building temperature and to run personal appliances. The final third is contributed by the industrial sector. The main emitters of greenhouse gases are the construction, real estate, agriculture and metallurgical industries, the transportation sector, the industrial uses of fossil fuels and the burning of biomass

Biomass

Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

. Some examples of daily activities that contribute to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere include the use of carbon-based electricity in street lighting, driving motor vehicles, cooking, and the lighting, heating and cooling of housing.

If the policies of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade...

(OECD) countries remain unchanged, specifically Australia and the United States, and also China and India, carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

emissions, which represents 72% of all greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

emissions, will increase by a third in the year 2020 instead of the 5% reduction as was approved in the Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...

.

With the current path of climate change

Climate change

, the world population is entering an era of growing urban vulnerability. The accelerated pace of urbanisation and the fact that a growing segment of the world's population now live in cities has significantly increased the vulnerability of urban areas as anthropogenic hazards and agents for climate change. It will become increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is caused by humans and what is natural because both risks are overlapping.

Five Dangers of Climate Change

Rise in sea levels: According to various projections, it is expected that sea level would register a rise of between 20 and 90 centimetres during the 21st century, partly due to the mass loss of glaciers and ice caps.
Land mudslides: The increase in the intensity, scale and frequency of rainfall is caused by periodic flooding in low-lying areas and regions, as well as mudslides in geologically unstable areas that are usually identified with the location of vulnerable illegal settlements. The areas built near rivers or in areas in river beds will be subject to additional flooding.
Reduction of the quality and quantity of water: Flooding of urban areas tend to affect water treatment plants, wells, toilets and septic tanks. The water treatment systems and garbage will also be affected thereby contaminating drinking water resources.
Warming, cold waves and droughts: Urban systems are severely affected by intense episodes of thermal variability, such as hot and cold waves that impose extra energy consumption for the use of air conditioners and heaters, as well disrupting daily urban activities.
Hazards to health: The socio-economic impacts of climate change in urban areas include increasing effects of urban heat islands, an increase in pollutants, especially during the warm seasons, and investment in thermal stations during winter, causing an increase in disease and death.

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases

Emissions of greenhouse gases emanating from urban areas can be mitigated through four types of action:

Urban Density

Demand for energy in high-rise buildings is lower than that of suburban housing families. Infrastructure costs and emissions are lower if the costs for the consumption of land, transport and transfer times are lower. The number of people with cars in the city is much lower than in the suburbs, where public transport benefits from serious investments. The expansive urban growth should be avoided and discouraged at all costs.

Construction and energy efficiency

The operation and maintenance of residential buildings and offices are responsible for 38% of CO. Much of this figure comes from the air conditioning. It is therefore necessary to reduce energy needs for heating, lighting and cooling of buildings, but also increase efficiency in the use of technologies to build and own cycle construction.

Administration of transport demand

The vigorous promotion of mass transportation systems, pedestrian areas, non-motorised transport and use of more fuel-efficient cars can drastically reduce the total volume of carbon dioxide.

Production of cleaner energy

The shift from coal to natural gas in power plants, and the promotion of the use of clean and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy to replace energy from fossil fuels present significant opportunities.

Adaptation

According to the IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...

's 2001 Assessment Report, no matter how much effort is put into mitigating climate change, some amount of climate change cannot be avoided. The report shared that adaptation should complement mitigation efforts.

Adaptation is the approach that focuses on alleviating current problems brought about by global warming and climate change. It is the attempt to live with the changes in the environment and the economy that global warming has generated and will continue to generate. In short, it involves taking action to deal with the problems brought about by global warming and climate change. Examples include building better flood defences and avoiding the building of residential areas near low-lying, flood-prone areas.

In contrast, mitigation focuses on steps taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is the set of preventative measures taken to curb global warming and climate change. Examples would be investing in clean fuel and using renewable energy

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

such as wind and solar power.

Although national governments and local authorities are taking stringent mitigation measures, the need for adaptation is in the interest of dealing with climate change because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for decades and is trapped in oceans for centuries, thereby resulting in a change in ocean chemistry and may adversely affect ocean life. No matter how much humanity cuts greenhouse gas emissions now, the emissions released now will have an impact for decades. Therefore, adaptation is crucial for cities looking towards strengthening their resistance against the climate impact that past emissions have caused – to deal with the problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions pumped out years ago.

The determinants of adaptive capacity include the availability of financial resources, technology, specialised institutions and human resources, as well as access to information and existence of laws (both social and organisational) – attributes and resources that are usually scarce in developing countries and in small cities. In cities with a proven vulnerability to climate change, investment is likely to require the strengthening of urban infrastructure, including storm drain

Storm drain

A storm drain, storm sewer , stormwater drain or drainage well system or simply a drain or drain system is designed to drain excess rain and ground water from paved streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems...

systems, water supply and treatment plants, and protection or relocation of solid waste management and power generation facilities.

Coastal regions are likely to need large investment in physical infrastructure projects, specifically projects related to the effects of rising sea levels. Projects such as the construction of protective barriers against rising sea levels, the building of dams to retain and manage water, the redesign and development of port facilities and the improvement of the defence systems at coastal areas should be carried out.

Another measure of adaptation is the construction of new cities on higher ground, withdrawing the population away from vulnerable floodplains. This withdrawal would probably be managed over time, and may require a public-private partnership

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

consisting of a combination of market incentives such as the differential cost of insurance and re-insurance, and investment planning.

Internalising the limitations of climate change requires proper planning for land use and the adherence to building codes. Planning for land use should channel new residential developments and productive investment towards less vulnerable areas. The inhabitants of slums and informal housing should receive assistance to regularise their properties, enabling low-income groups such as themselves to buy, build or rent homes in secure locations.

As a basis for planning, local authorities need a reliable and well-informed assessment of the risks faced by urban cities. The dissemination of such information, and establishing early warning systems and evacuation plans including warning systems for emergencies, disaster response

Disaster response

Disaster response is a phase of the disaster management cycle. Its preceding cycles aim to reduce the need for a disaster response, or to avoid it altogether.The level of disaster response depends on a number of factors and particular situation awareness...

and improved urban environmental management is crucial for adapting to the dangers of climate change.

Projects concerning adaptation to climate change in Australia

The Australian Government has pledged to spend some A$1.8 billion (US$ on climate change. The country's national, state and territory policy makers have supported a National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan that works to manage the impacts of climate change on wildlife. The nation is also interested to co-ordinate the management of its coasts and strives to lessen the effects of climate change on agriculture

Climate change and agriculture

Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes, both of which take place on a global scale. Global warming is projected to have significant impacts on conditions affecting agriculture, including temperature, carbon dioxide, glacial run-off, precipitation and the interaction of these...

National Climate Change Adaptation Programme

The Department of Climate Change (Australia)

Department of Climate Change (Australia)

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency is an Australian Government department, currently led by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet...

has come up with the National Climate Change
Adaptation Programme which aims to work with industries, scientific organisations, residents and other governments to create workable solutions. According to the programme brochure, "Guidelines, planning tools and information about climate change impacts form the basis of the Programme".
Some A$14 million over a period of four years (2008–2012) is to be spent on this initiative http://www.climatechange.gov.au/impacts/nccap/index.html.
The programme has forged strong research links in at-risk areas such as the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

. Research conducted in the Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...

is focused on developing methods to deal with climate change to protect the reef. It is hoped that this work will create a universal model for sustainable, cost-effective reef development.
According to the programme's brochure: "National greenhouse mitigation policies and programmes are projected to reduce emissions by 94 million tonnes by 2010 – the equivalent of removing every motor vehicle in Australia from the road! However, the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and the growing emissions from around the world will affect our climate. Adaptation to climate change will complement action to reduce greenhouse gases".

Climate Adaptation Flagship

The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...

(CSIRO) started the Climate Adaptation Flagship http://www.csiro.au/org/ClimateAdaptationFlagshipOverview.html, with the aim of "enabling Australia to adapt more effectively to the impacts of climate change and variability and informing national planning, regulation and investment decisions". This is part of the National Research Flagships Program http://www.csiro.au/partnerships/NRF.html, designed to bring various stakeholders, i.e. research companies, industries, international connections, eminent scientists and CSIRO, together in hope of delivering practical solutions that address the pressing issues of Australia.

The Climate Adaptation Flagship project concerns both climate variability (or non-human causes, as defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...

) and climate change. The research budget for this Flagship for the year 2008–09 is close to A$30 million http://www.csiro.au/news/CAFLaunch.html. There are four research prongs to this project:

Pathways to adaptation: Concerns studies on climate science, analyses of economic and social situations and choices of adaptation, understanding the values of various affected and involved parties, effects of implementing adaption options, and the hurdles limiting adaptation.
Sustainable cities and costs: Concerns research into facilities design, development of urban systems, integration of socio-economic and environmental studies to help stakeholders adjust to the effects of climate change on a regional level, and the development of high-quality urban development projects that improve the available body of information related to climate adaptation with a focus on cohesive urban construction and development.
Managing species and natural ecosystems: Concerns research into forecasting nature's response to climate change, and coming up with adaptation options to improve its hardiness; minimising the threats brought about by forest fires, habitat loss and invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

; and connecting climate change adaptation strategies into environmental protection and natural resource administration policies.
Adaptive primary industries, enterprises and communities: Concerns research into providing workable adaptation solutions that will maintain the way of life of rural communities and industries adversely affected by the prospect of climate change, the use of participatory engagement to integrate policies that address the management of uncertainties brought about by climate change into administrative policies of the industries, choices of adaptation and tools to aid decision-makers and industries in lessening the impacts of climate change and to allow them to benefit from new opportunities, and the development of new techniques and technologies to enable industries to properly and effectively manage climate change.

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility

NCCARF is hosted by Griffith University

Griffith University

Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...

in Queensland and "leads the research community in a national interdisciplinary effort to generate the information needed by decision-makers in government and in vulnerable sectors and communities to manage the risks of climate change impacts.".

The key roles of NCCARF include:

developing National Adaptation Research Plans to identify critical gaps in the information available to decision-makers
synthesising existing and emerging national and international research on climate change impacts and adaptation and developing targeted communication products
undertaking a program of Integrative Research to address national priorities, and
establishing and maintaining Adaptation Research Networks to link together key researchers and assist them in focussing on national research priorities.

The Facility is a partnership between the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Griffith University, with a consortium of funding partners drawn from across the country:

The Facility is based at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, but works in close partnership with the wider Australian climate change adaptation research community.

The Local Adaptations Pathway Program

The Australian Government is of the view that local government is critical in managing the impacts of climate change and seeks to assist local councils in studying and applying adaptation options.The programme is the Australian Government's initiative to enable councils to go through climate change risk assessments and come up with action plans to prepare for the impacts the phenomenon may have on local society. Up to A$50,000 will be released. A list of councils successful in procuring the funding is provided on the programme's website http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/impacts/localgovernment/lapp.html.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Introduction

Five Dangers of Climate Change

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases

Urban Density

Construction and energy efficiency

Administration of transport demand

Production of cleaner energy

Adaptation

Projects concerning adaptation to climate change in Australia

National Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Climate Adaptation Flagship

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility

The Local Adaptations Pathway Program

See also

External links