Friday, September 19, 2008

Victoria (in Australia) must plan for coastal swamping

The Age (Australia): Victoria must start planning for sea level rises of two metres that will swamp coastal housing and industry, a former planning minister has warned. Tom Roper, Victoria's planning and environment minister from 1987-1990, will tell the World Sustainable Building Conference beginning in Melbourne tomorrow that a rapid acceleration in planning decisions to combat climate change is needed. Mr Roper, a board member of the Washington-based Climate Institute, told The Age:

Victoria had to plan for a two-metre sea level rise and "if it's less than that, we can all be thankful". "I don't think, certainly in Australia, we have thought through what up to two metres of sea level rise will actually means in terms of our major cities".

■ Docklands had been developed "without regards to climate change" and the Werribee Treatment Plant would be swamped by rising sea levels, he said.

■ He fully supported the Melbourne 2030 planning blueprint and said Melbourne would be in a much better shape if it had been introduced in the 1980s....

Historical map of Melbourne, Australia, Wikimedia Commons

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