Local initiatives

Geelong Otway Tourism is supporting a climate change risk assessment for the tourism industry along the Great Ocean Road, which is being undertaken by Victoria University.

The Surf Coast Shire’s Draft Climate Change Strategy was endorsed for public exhibition at Council’s July 2011 meeting. The strategy aims to reduce emissions from Council’s operations, to ensure the Surf Coast community is in a better position to adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change including greater bushfire risk and extreme weather events and raise community awareness of climate change issues.

GORCC has commenced work on a project, supported by funding provided by the Australian Government, to assess the vulnerability to climate change of coastal areas along the Great Ocean Road between Torquay and Lorne. This will provide a better understanding of the likely climate change risk profile for our iconic coastline and provide a basis for considering adaptation strategies.  More information can be found here.

Victorian initiatives

In Victoria, the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Future Coasts Project.  The $13.5 million investment by the Victorian Government in the Program will help Victoria better understand and plan for the risks associated with climate change, by producing information about the impacts of sea level rise along the Victorian coast, with a focus on coastal erosion and flooding. This information, along with guidance material, will be publicly available to coastal land managers and decision makers to use when planning for and managing coastal areas. This information has the potential to be used by the private sector.

 

The CSIRO is working concurrently to develop sea level rise and storm surge projections for Victoria’s coastline. This work will build on a previously published study relating to sea level rise and storm surges for the Gippsland coast.  The CSIRO has also publiched the e-book Climate Change: Science and Solutions for Australia.
 

In 2011 the Victorian Climate Change Act 2010 came into effect.  More information about climate change and Victorian initiatives can be found at Victoria's Understanding Climate Change website.

 

National

The Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change recently completed a ‘first pass’ national assessment of the vulnerability of Australia’s coast to climate change. The ensuing report, Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts, was released in November 2009.

The objectives of the 'first pass' assessment include:

• to provide an assessment of the implications of climate change for nationally significant aspects of Australia’s coast, with a particular focus on coastal settlements and ecosystems
• to identify areas at high risk to climate change impacts
• to identify barriers or impediments that hinder effective responses to minimise the impacts of climate change in the coastal zone, and
• to help identify national priorities for adaptation to reduce climate change risk in the coastal zone.

The national assessment used the Smartline Coastal Geomorphic Map of Australia. This is a detailed map of the coastal landform types – or 'geomorphology – of continental Australia and most adjacent islands (excluding the Great Barrier Reef).

As a 'geomorphic' map, it represents not just the topography of the coast – the planform, elevation and shape of the coastal landforms that a contour map or digital elevation model may represent – but it also indicates what the differing coastal landforms are made of: varying rock types, laterite, coral, sand, mud, boulders, beachrock, and so on.

In 2009, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts released the report of its inquiry into climate change and environmental impacts on coastal communities.

In July 2011 the Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the Australian Government's Clean Energy Future package.  This outlines the Federal Government's Land Sector Package and Carbon Price.

International

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has started work on preparing its fifth assessment report, which will build on the findings of its fourth report, released in 2007, and previous reports. The IPCC is a scientific body involved in reviewing and assessing the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 put the climate change debate firmly in the global spotlight as participants grappled with the challenges involved in achieving international consensus on climate change targets.  The United Nations holds regular conferences on Climate change.  Visit the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change page for updates.