Climate change 'terror'

KARA PHILLIPS, POLITICAL REPORTER

September 28, 2006 12:15am
Article from: The Advertiser



A NEW "terrifying" climate change report shows temperature change predictions for the state's coast have already grown by 0.3C in just three years.
Premier Mike Rann tabled the Government-commissioned CSIRO report in Parliament yesterday, warning that "no nation in the world will be more affected by global warming than Australia".

The CSIRO used computer modelling to determine the impact of global warming in SA from now until 2070 and the report updates a 2003 CSIRO study using the same models.

The CSIRO report predicts average temperatures in the south will increase up to 4.7C by 2070, up from the prediction of 4.4C as outlined in the 2003 report. Meanwhile, rainfall will decline by up to 35 per cent, up from predictions of 30 per cent in 2003.

The state's energy resources will be even more stressed by 2070, through greater use of reliance on airconditioning.

Mr Rann described the report as "terrifying".

"It is a glimpse of the future here in Australia," he said.

"This report demonstrates that the dry spells we are currently experiencing may become more frequent in the future, but that there may also be wet spells and an increase of flood and bushfires."

Yesterday, the Conservation Council SA, the Wilderness Society and Greenpeace issued a plea for the State Government to "close the loopholes" quickly in its new climate change legislation.

They warned that hundreds of species could become extinct.

Greenpeace energy campaigner Mark Wakeham said the draft Climate Change Bill would provide "no teeth" to the renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2014. "There is no mechanism in place to ensure the target will be achieved, unlike in Victoria where the Bracks Government passed legislation two weeks ago, and already nearly $1 billion of new investment in renewable energy has been confirmed," he said.

Cuts to key conservation programs in last week's Budget had Wilderness Society state president Peter Owen and Conservation Council SA campaigner Julia Winefield "gravely concerned" for the future of the state's biodiversity. Mr Owen said the NatureLinks program and the Marine Protected Area Programs were inadequately funded, making it impossible to implement the key goals in the Government's Biodiversity Strategy.

The Rann Government was the first in Australia to bring in climate change laws and Mr Rann yesterday vowed more announcements would be made within weeks.