IPCC report has some ominous warnings for Australia and a few surprising opportunities

New ominous warnings have been issued for Australian farmers, but experts say there are also a few surprising opportunities. HAVE YOUR SAY

More dust storms, more farming in Tasmania and a year-round “bushfire season” — these are just some of the many predictions Australian scientists are making in the wake of the latest international report on the effects of climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report, released in Geneva on Thursday, appeared to dash hopes that global warming could be contained to the optimal level of 1.5 degrees agreed to in the 2016 Paris climate deal.

Although global average temperatures have risen 0.87 degrees above pre-industrial levels, temperatures over land had already risen 1.5 degrees, the IPCC found.

Professor Mark Howden, Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University.

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Prof Mark Howden, the Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute, said the report showed some areas in the world such as the Mediterranean and South East Asia would likely be hit harder by climate change than Australia, but this was no cause for complacency.

“Both globally and in Australia, climate change is already negatively impacting our food production, and that is likely to increase,” he said.

But along with the threats came some unexpected opportunities, he said.

“Temperate zones seem to be getting some beneficial impacts of climate change. Not everywhere is being impacted in the same way or to the same degree.”

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In Australia, some areas that had previously been unsuitable for crops because rainfall was too high were now found to be good for such initiatives as rainfall levels had fallen, he said.

Associate Professor Stephen Cattle from the Sydney Institute of Agriculture said the report suggested some agricultural enterprises “might have to be a bit more flexible and move around the country”.

“Previously cooler areas might become slightly warmer, and be more productive in terms of our food requirements,” he said. Tasmania, for example, “might become more suitable for more agricultural enterprises.”

Soil scientist and dust expert Dr Stephen Cattle.

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Dust storms, such as those seen this week in northern New South Wales and South Australia, would likely increase as an effect of climate change, Assoc Prof Cattle said.

“With increasing temperatures, desertification increases and the arid zone creeps closer,” he said. “We have a great risk of sand storms creeping further east if climate change does continue to exert its influence.”

Bushfire season would also become a constant state of affairs in Australia, Prof Howdon said.

Australia “had already seen a change in the seasonality and intensity” of bushfires and with “signiciant” fires happening in winter, the idea of a bushfire season had already started to diminish, he said.

While the report encouraged consumers to shift to a more plant-based diet, its authors stopped short of advocating vegetarian or vegan diets.

They did, however, call for more attention to the issue of food waste, the breakdown of which contributes to at least 8 per cent of human-made greenhouse gases.

“Reducing food waste is a good start,” Prof Howdon said. “If we manage our pantry better, that reduces land pressures on land.

“But we’re not in the business of telling people what they should eat. People can make decisions at an individual level. It’s very dangerous to be dogmatic about these things.”

Originally published as IPCC report has some ominous warnings for Australia and a few surprising opportunities