Mapping climate impacts on Australia's coastal cities

Science Alert (Australia): Dr Ben Preston, a CSIRO scientist from the Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, is working with local councils and state governments to help them plan for the sea and weather impacts of climate change on key coastal areas.

According to researchers from Macquarie University, half of Australia’s addresses are within seven kilometres of the coast. Dig deeper into their data and you’ll discover that around six per cent of homes are within three kilometres of the coast and less than five metres above sea level.

That equates to around 710,000 coastal homes at risk from wild storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change. Add extremes of heat and rain, and the results do not bode well for our coastal homes and infrastructure, or natural resources and, probably, public health.

It’s a situation that needs urgent attention. But to plan for these kinds of impacts, local governments need specifics; they need to know exactly how their regions will be affected by potential climate change effects.

The first research project under the collaborative program was with the Sydney Coastal Councils Group, a network of 15 coastal councils in metropolitan Sydney. Further projects are now being planned for other major Australian cities. Dr Preston says climate change will affect coastal and city areas in different ways. ‘It really depends on their geographic location, demographics, and the resources and tools at their disposal to manage future climate change risk.’

For the Climate Adaptation Flagship researchers, the collaboration with councils means the end results are more likely to be adopted. The councils provide insights on local issues and community characteristics, and the infrastructure demands and geography that dictate how each region reacts to climate change….

Climate change projections and socioeconomic data were used to generate maps of vulnerability to impacts on health, sea levels, storms, bushfires and natural resources. Source: CSIRO