The Australian Government will invest $1.7 million in technology to model the impacts of climate change on the whole of Australia’s coastline. Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, says this is the first time a whole continent anywhere in the world will be able to model the impacts of climate change on their coasts. “This will help Australia’s coastal regions plan their strategy to combat the effects of climate change,” he says. “The model will be used as a ‘first pass’ to assess risk and work out which regions need more detailed risk assessment and planning.
“Eighty-five percent of Australians live on the coast and we all need to better understand how climate change will affect these regions so we can plan accordingly,” Turnbull says. The data will enable people to develop a ‘digital model’ — a three-dimensional, graphical depiction of the earth’s surface for Australia’s entire coastline. “It will help show the effects of storm surges, floods and tsunamis on Australia’s coastal infrastructure, communities and ecosystems. For example, in our coastal regions, a rock shoreline does not erode as easily as a sandy beach and is less vulnerable to impacts like storm surge or sea level rise.” The assessment of Australia’s coastal vulnerability to climate change will also be part of the work to be undertaken through the new $126 million Centre for Climate Change Adaptation being established.
