Australia's future is extremely tainted by the inevitable rising sea levels that climate change brings. A Report by the Climate Council has found that the future rising sea levels could put more than $200 billion of Australian infrastructure at risk. The Report named Counting the Costs: Climate Change and Coastal Flooding , predicted that the sea levels were to rise by between 40 centimetres and one metre over the next decade. The report's lead author, Professor Will Steffen, warned national income would suffer huge losses if action was not taken to protect against rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
Coastal flooding report:
-
- At least $226 billion of infrastructure exposed to flooding and erosion (with a 1.1m sea level rise), including:
- - $81b – commercial buildings
- - $72b – residential
- - $67b – road and rail
- - $6b – light industrial buildings
According to the report, the Victorian coast, the south-east corner of Queensland and Sydney will be hit the hardest by rising sea levels. More than 75 per cent of Australian live near the coast, therefore many homes will be destroyed.
The report's lead author, Professor Will Steffen stated "Much of our road, rail, port facilities, airports and so on are on the coast,"
"If you look at a 1.1 metre sea level rise - which is the high-end scenario for 2100 but that's what we're tracking towards - you're looking at more than $200 billion worth of infrastructure that's at risk."
"If you look at some of our most vulnerable areas, and the Sydney region is one of those, you would say toward the end of this century that a one-in-100-year flood is going to be happening every few days," he said.
"That's an impossible situation to cope with."
New infrastructure should factor in sea level rises, such as the new runway planned for Brisbane's airport. If these predictions of sea level rises are ignored, by 2050 the global impact of coastal flooding would cost $US 1 trillion per year, which is the same as the Australian economy.
Want action on climate change now?
Add your name to WECAN’s global women’s declaration by clicking here!
By adding your signature, you are sending a powerful message to world leaders – that women around the world will act at any cost to stop a 4 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures.
So please unite with us, and join thousands of women around the world calling for urgent action on climate change by signing.
If our Government won’t be there, at least our collective voice will be!
Keep checking back for the latest news and developments around the New York Climate Summit.