Mapping climate impacts on our coastal cities

摘要

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.rnAccording 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.rnThat equates to around 710 000 coastal homes at risk from wild storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change. Add extremes of heatrnand rain, and the results do not bode well for our coastal homes and infrastructure, or natural resources and, probably, public health.rnIt's a situation that needs urgent attention. But to plan for these kinds of impacts, localrngovernments need specifics; they need to know exactly how their regions will be affected by potential climate change effects.