Climate change potential impacts
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An overview of potential climate change effects and their impacts on coastal communities.
Potential climate
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Potential impacts on the coast
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| Sea-level rise | Loss of beaches |
| Coastal erosion | Loss of Crown land |
| Migration of sand dunes | |
| Infrastructure threat or damage | |
| Adverse impact on lifestyle or amenity values | |
| Loss of habitat and biodiversity loss | |
| Declining tourism values (especially iconic beaches such as Bells Beach) | |
| Rising water tables close to the coast | |
| Loss of or threat to private property | |
| Insurance issues | |
| Frequent storm events | Damage to infrastructure (e.g. energy, water, roads, buildings, telecommunications, coastal ports, jetties, seawalls and access) |
| More intense storm events | Damage to marine and shoreline ecosystems from storm water and agricultural run-off |
| Decreased rainfall | Water shortages (during drought) and contamination (storm events, inundation, flooding, ground water salination or contamination) |
| Flooding and inundation | Agricultural industry impacts - sudden weather events and long-term events (e.g. drought) |
| Tourism impacts (e.g. damage to tourism infrastructure, visitor perception of risk) | |
| Recreation impacts | |
| Public safety and evacuation capacity | |
| Capacity of emergency services - volunteers, infrastructure (i.e. hospitals, shelters, supplies) | |
| Warming sea temperatures | Threats to marine biodiversity (e.g. mangroves, saltmarshes, sea grass) |
| Ocean acidification | Damage to estuaries - biodiversity, tourism and economic values |
| Threat to fisheries and recreational fishing | |
| Threats to port functions | |
| Damage to reefs | |
| Increased temperatures | Increased bushfire frequency and intensity |
| Increased humidity | Public health, especially aged community |
| Disease vectors (insects) | |
| Food spoilage | |
| Capacity of health services | |
| Economic impacts of disease | |
| Rural industry readjustments | |
| Peak energy demand increases |
Source: Planning for climate change, National Sea Change Taskforce, 2008
(IPCC 2007a, Henessy et al. 2007, Voice et al. 2007)