Climate change report paints grim picture for Queensland

Jennifer Eliot The Cairns Post 29 Oct 10;

A HOTTER Far North Queensland faces more severe cyclones, mass extinctions in its rainforests, extreme damage to its reefs and a spike in disease, according to a climate change report.

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones yesterday released the report, Climate Change in Queensland: What the science is telling us, and it paints a grim picture.

It found the past decade was the hottest on record and it’s going to get hotter by up to 2.2C by 2050 and sea levels could rise by as much as 8cm by 2100.

The number of days over 35C in Cairns is expected to triple and the Gulf and Cape can expect longer drier spells interrupted by more intense rainfall. "Average global temperatures have already increased by about 0.75C since 1900," she said.

"The land-ocean temperature record indicates that 14 of the past 15 years have been the warmest since 1880.

"The predicted changes in average rainfall and temperatures and increased frequency of severe weather events, including droughts, floods and severe cyclones, could reduce Queensland's primary and agricultural production, as well as having a significant impact on the well-being of affected communities."

The Great Barrier Reef is also in serious trouble. Ms Jones said the report highlights that the Reef will be hit by increasing acidification of the ocean and warming of the ocean because of more carbon in the atmosphere.

"This means greater threats to the unique corals of the Reef, because as the water gets more acid, coral growth is reduced and as it warms it encourages the kind of algae which block essential light to coral," she said.

James Cook University Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change Prof Steve Williams said rising sea levels would cause significant problems and impact on the World Heritage rainforest would be devastating.

He said a rise of 3.5C, which was possible, would leave a third of rainforest species extinct and a third endangered.

"Unless people start changing what they are doing, we are going to be up a creek without a paddle," he said.

"Any temperatures rises above 2C is starting to become serious and anything beyond that is getting scary.

"But there is time and we can deal with this."

Queensland getting hotter: report
David Barbeler Sydney Morning Herald 28 Oct 10;

AAP

Queensland is getting hotter, sea levels will continue to rise and the impact of extreme weather will increase, according to a new state government report on climate change.

Minister for Climate Change Kate Jones tabled the report - called Climate Change in Queensland: What the science is telling us - in state parliament on Thursday.

It's the second report in a series from the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence and includes more detail on the impacts of climate change in Queensland. The first report was published in 2008.
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Ms Jones told parliament that the report drew on advice from more than 220 peer-reviewed climate change reports.

"The report provides a uniquely Queensland perspective," she said.

"Queensland is getting hotter, sea levels are expected to continue to rise, and the impacts of extreme weather events will increase.

"Of particular concern is that our iconic Great Barrier Reef will be impacted by increasing acidification and warming of the ocean due to more carbon in the atmosphere."

As a result of climate change, the report says Queensland can expect more flooding, erosion and an increase in tropical cyclones, including more further south.

The report states that a two-degree increase in the average sea surface temperature will cause mass coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef and associated large-scale mortality.

"It is our job to help Queenslanders prepare and understand these changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events," Ms Jones said.

The report states the last decade was the hottest on record, with temperatures 0.58 degrees higher than the 1961-1990 average.

"Queensland regions can expect increased temperatures of between one degree and 2.2 degrees by 2050," the report states.

The report also warns rainfall will decrease by seven per cent in central Queensland and by five per cent in south-east Queensland by 2050.

Sea levels will also rise, with the report saying that estimates of a 0.26 to 0.79 metre rise by 2100 "may be a significant underestimate".