Australia's Water shortage problems could get 'even worse'
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Australia's Water shortage problems could get 'even worse'*
By Susan Briggs, Sandra O'Malley and Kate Corbett
November 03, 2006 05:20pm
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIA'S water problems could become at least seven times worse
unless climate change is tackled, according to the author of a major
international report on global warming.
Former world bank economist Sir Nicholas Stern released his Review on
the Economics of Climate Change this week, saying global warming risked
forcing the world into another depression on the scale of that of the 1930s.
Sir Nicholas said if temperatures were allowed to continue rising at the
current rate, Australia's water problems would become more severe and
coastal cities would be threatened by large sea level rises.
"You've had this long drought and what you are dealing with there is the
temperature increase from the middle of the 19th century - where we
normally measure it from - of 0.7 centigrade," Sir Nicholas said on ABC
radio.
"You are talking about seven times that ... it is a real possibility
under business-as-usual in about 100 years from now.
"And of course it is not just seven times the problems it is much more
the problems because these things get more and more severe. You'd be
talking about really severe water stress."
The Kyoto Protocol on limiting greenhouse gases, he said, should be the
first priority in addressing climate change.
"There's an urgency about this and what we should see is all countries
coming in (on Kyoto)," he said.
"Australia's good at technology, they've got a lot of experience with
different sorts of minerals, they've got wind and they've got coal and
they've got uranium.
"There are so many ways where Australia could come in (on Kyoto) and I
think would have so much to bring to the table and, to an outsider, it
looks as if that's not going to happen."
He also warned about the dangers of nations waiting for other countries
to take action before they committed to change.
"What's important is that each country acts strongly because if one
country says I'm not going to do anything until everybody does
everything, then that's a recipe for nothing happening and, of course,
nothing happening is the most dangerous thing of all," Sir Nicholas said.
Prime Minister John Howard has refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol,
saying it places an unfair burden on Australia, but that he would
consider joining a new global emissions scheme if it involved all
industrialised countries.
Mr Howard today strengthened his warning that Australia could lose jobs
and investment if it placed unreasonable costs on industry in an effort
to tackle climate change.
He vowed to do all that he could to address the issue of climate change
while protecting Australia's comparative advantage in fossil fuels, like
coal and gas.
Failure to do so could be to the detriment of future generations, he said.
"In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions you have to adjust the use
of all of those things where we have a comparative advantage, that is
fossil fuels, because they're the basis of a lot of our wealth," Mr
Howard said.
"We've got to be very careful that the adjustment process doesn't
unfairly disadvantage Australia.
"I am determined that it will happen in a way that our comparative
advantage is protected.
"The cost to this country of losing our comparative advantage in things
like gas and coal would be enormous, it would be jobs and investment lost."
Mr Howard said it was his responsibility to ensure Australia took a
balanced response to reducing greenhouse emissions and did not make the
mistake of hurting the gas and coal industries.
"We're a wealthy country but we'll lose that wealth if our good
productive industries which underpin that wealth are unfairly
disadvantaged," he said.