EXPERT: Not too late to change Fraser Coast’s future

He said society needed to take climate change seriously

Associate Professor David Schoeman from the USC Collaborative Research Network has found that Sunshine Coast marine life has been heading south as a result of changes in our climate. Tropical fish that are normally found in our waters have been found as far south as Sydney.Photo: Brett Wortman / Sunshine Coast Daily

URGENT action is needed to address climate change, or significant impacts are inevitable.

That is the view of climate-change ecologist Associate Professor David Schoeman.

Assc Prof Schoeman, from the University of the Sunshine Coast, said the climate was already changing.

He said the messages in a new report, titled Climate Change Risk to Australia's Built Environment, seemed clear - the Fraser Coast was at risk of coastal inundation and the risk escalates quickly from 2020 to 2100.

"The Fraser Coast is vulnerable to all of these impacts because of the relatively gentle shoreline profile.," he said.

"As an example, Toogoom is around three metres above current sea levels.

"Considering that a king tide might add nearly 1m to sea levels, and that a tropical cyclone might cause another 1m of storm surge, or more, if it is a severe cyclone, it is easy to imagine how such an event might cause extensive damage, even at a one-in-100-year frequency.

"Under business as usual, we'd expect to see these events far more frequently, maybe not annually, but still far more frequent than one per century, by 2100.

Assc Prof Schoeman said society needed to take climate change seriously.

"It is already happening, and it is accelerating," he said.

"We have already put a tremendous amount of heat energy into the sea, and this will take centuries to dissipate.

"The longer we wait to act, the worse the consequences will be for people, and especially for people who live by the coast. It is not too late to act and spare ourselves the worst of the impacts, but if we fail to do so, our coastal settlements are likely to look quite different within the next few generations."

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