Australian heat deaths to soar due to climate change
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wednesday January 31, 12:02 PM Reuters
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Australian heat deaths to soar due to climate change*
By Michael Perry
SYDNEY AUSTRALIA- (Reuters) - Climate change in Sydney will cause a
significant rise in heat-related deaths of people over 65 years of age
by 2050, as Australia's biggest city suffers more heat waves, bushfires
and floods, a new environment report says.
The report by Australia's premier scientific body, the Commonwealth
Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), forecast
heat-related deaths for elderly people would rise from the current 176 a
year to 1,312 by 2050.
"This might sound like a doomsday scenario, but it is one that we must
control," said New South Wales state premier Morris Iemma in releasing
the report on Wednesday.
Australia is already feeling the brunt of global warming with the worst
drought in 100 years eating into economic growth.
The CSIRO report found Sydney's maximum temperature was expected to rise
1.6 degrees Celsius by 2030 and 4.8 degrees by 2070 and average rainfall
will drop by 40 percent by 2070.
The report said if temperatures rose by just 1 degree and rainfall fell
by 5 percent, Sydney's four million residents would no longer enjoy a
coastal climate but feel as if they were living in a hot rural town some
175 km (110 miles) awayff.
Rising sea levels will result in coastal erosion of up to 22 metres (66
feet) for a strip of beaches from Collaroy to Narrabeen in Sydney's
north, eating away at many multi-million dollar homes now perched on the
edge of the beach.
An increase in evaporation of up to 24 percent by 2070 and lower water
flows in streams and rivers could adversely impact the city's water quality.
CALL FOR CARBON TRADING
The CSIRO report was "frightening reading", said Iemma, who called on
Australian Prime Minister John Howard to commit to major reductions in
greenhouse gases.
Australia was one of the few nations allowed to increase emissions under
Kyoto, which obliges about 40 nations to cut the emission of carbon
dioxide and other gases by at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by
2008-12.
Prime Minister John Howard refuses to sign Kyoto, saying it is
unworkable without the participation of major polluters India and China.
Australia, one of the world's major coal exporters, is the world's 10th
largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
"The Commonwealth can no longer put its head in the sand on this issue.
It's time the prime minister committed to reaching the targets we have
set in NSW to combat climate change," Iemma said.
NSW has set a target of 15 percent renewable energy by 2020 and a 60
percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Iemma called on the Australian government to introduce a national
emissions trading system to reduce greenhouse gases.
Howard has refused to adopt carbon trading, arguing it would
disadvantage the country's coal industry. His government has earmarked
A$185 million (73 million pounds) for clean and alternative energy
projects. Howard has recently begun promoting nuclear power as an answer
to climate change.
A report by the Energy Supply Association, which represents Australia's
fossil fuel power generators, estimated it would cost A$75 billion to
cut greenhouse emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
The report said the high cost was due to the production of clean energy,
which was 30 percent more expensive than fossil fuel energy, and the
development of new energy technologies.
The energy sector produces about half of Australia's greenhouse gas
emissions, with electricity generation accounting for about 60 percent
of total emissions.
The Australian Business Council of Sustainable Development rejected the
report's costings and also called for a carbon trading system, which
would reduce the cost of renewable energy.
"Wind is much more expensive than coal-fired power generation at the
moment," said Ric Brazzale, the council's executive director.
"But coal-fired power generation does not have to bear the cost of its
greenhouse gas emissions. Bring on an emissions trading scheme and let
the market decide which technology is the most cost effective."