Northern Western Australia faces increasing danger from heatwaves, stronger cyclones, flooding and bushfires as the climate warms, with its population “significantly exposed” to climate hazards.
The federal government’s National Climate Risk Assessment report, released today, also warns that by 2070, manual labour in Perth will be “dangerous to perform” on 15 to 26 days a year for agricultural or labour-based work due to increasing heat and humidity.
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And, under a scenario of three degrees of global warming, heat-related mortality in Perth will rise by 312 per cent.
The world has already seen warming of 1.2 degrees driven by greenhouse gases since the industrial period.
Tropical cyclones may decrease in frequency, but more will be severe category 4 or 5 systems, the report warns, while WA’s south is predicted to see the highest increases of time spent in drought under all future warming scenarios.
Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said the urgency of its own findings didn’t appear to have fully registered with the government.
“The report states: ‘Australians will be impacted by loss of important ecosystems and species by the middle of the century, without implementing direct intervention and adaptation actions’.
“The middle of this century is the period starting from the mid-2030s, not some far distant date a hundred years away.
“In fact, it’s much closer than the extended lifetime of the [North West Shelf], which will push out 4.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions until 2070.”
In releasing the report federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Australians were “already living with the consequences of climate change today”.
“After a decade of denial and delay, we are acting on climate change – and it’s working,” Bowen said.
“Emissions are coming down, there is record investment in clean energy, and we’re working alongside communities to respond and adapt to the impacts.”
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