New maps that identify the future impacts of climate change on heavily populated coastal areas will assist communities to prepare for sea level rise. President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) Councillor Genia McCaffery welcomed the release of the maps, which were announced by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Greg Combet on 15 December.
“Australia’s coasts are becoming more and more densely populated,” Councillor McCaffery said. “One of the greatest threats from climate change arises from rising sea levels. This has two particular impacts that Local Government is concerned about – the threat of inundation, as well as the impact of erosion from higher tides on property and vital infrastructure.”
Councillor McCaffery said that Local Government is committed to working in partnership with the Federal Government to address climate change issues.
“Our role in land management, planning and community services means councils need tools to help make long term decisions in the best interests of our communities,” she said. “These maps are an important step towards a coordinated national approach to tackling one of the greatest challenges of our generation.”
Minister Combet said the maps demonstrate that it is essential to engage in early planning for the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
“Developed in partnership with the cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, these maps are an important product for the community to understand potential risks to infrastructure and properties and to prepare for the climate change impacts of sea level rises,” he said. “The maps provide useful initial information for decision makers to prepare for potential risks from rising sea levels in coastal areas.”
The inundation maps show the potential long term effects of climate change, highlighting three simple sea level rise scenarios for the period around the year 2100. These are low (0.5m), medium (0.8m) and high (1.1m).
The low scenario represents future sea level rise likely to be unavoidable. The medium scenario is in line with recent global emissions and observations of sea level rise, and the high scenario considers the possible high end risk identified in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report and more recent research.
Minister Combet said that every day, decisions are being made for new housing developments and infrastructure in coastal areas and having this information would help the community prepare for the future effects which climate change could have.
“Additionally, we need to face the challenge of starting to prepare for impacts to existing developments where past decision making did not address climate change impacts and where areas may be vulnerable to inundation as the sea level rises,” he said.
The regions covered by the maps are Sydney and the Hunter and Central Coast in New South Wales; Melbourne; South East Queensland, including Brisbane and the Gold Coast; and Perth to south of Mandurah in Western Australia.
The maps and further information are available from the OzCoasts website at www.ozcoasts.org.au
