People at risk
Water
Climate change will severely affect our future water supply and quality.
Both rainfall deficits and droughts are projected to become more extreme and the economic impact will be significant. For example the estimated cost to the Australian community of the 2002-2003 drought was $6.6 billion.
Rainfall changes, combined with projected evaporation increases, are expected to result in reduced run-off across most of Australia. By 2050, average streamflow is projected to drop 7-35% in Melbourne (Vic), 10-25% in the Murray-Darling Basin and 31% in the Stirling (WA) catchment, seriously affecting water supplies.
Water quality will also be adversely affected as a result of higher water temperatures and reduced stream flows.
Agriculture
Climate change is likely to have a significant impact on the agricultural sector, although there is some potential for adaptation.
Climate change may affect stock production by increasing the heat stress on animals, increasing outbreaks of pests and disease, and reducing the supply of water and feed.
Crops are likely not only to be subjected to increasing rainfall variability, but also reduced soil moisture, changing pest, disease and weed threats, and increased heat stress.
Infrastructure
Severe weather events, sea level rises and changed fire regimes are likely to have a serious impact on key infrastructure .
Insurance
Insurance premiums are likely to rise significantly in vulnerable regions subjected to severe weather events, especially on the coast.
Any reduction in the industry's ability to underwrite weather-related risk will also have serious ramifications for those economies.
Tourism
Australia's major tourist attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu and the Australian Alps, are threatened by global warming.
Tourism to these and other attractions is a $73 billion industry that employs more than half a million Australians. Australia earns more in export dollars from tourism than it does from coal and wool exports combined.
Health
Climate change can harm human health directly and indirectly.
Direct effects include injury and death from heat waves, tropical cyclones and floods.
Indirect effects include increasing incidence of infectious diseases, food poisoning from contaminated produce, water-borne diseases, and an increase in skin cancer and eye cataracts due to ozone depletion.
Displacement
Some countries, especially the world's small island nations, face obliteration due to climate change and rising sea levels.
It is estimated that there will be 150 million climate refugees within 50 years and 75 million in the Asia-Pacific region alone.
