Councils in Western Australia have revealed a mixed bag of plans relating to their preparation and response plans to projected rising sea levels, hotter days and less rain.
Councils in Western Australia have revealed a mixed bag of plans relating to their preparation and response plans to projected rising sea levels, hotter days and less rain.
According to recently released federal government climate change projections, by 2030 Perth can expect temperature and rain conditions to be similar to current day Toowoomba, three hours inland of Brisbane. By 2090, Perth’s climate is projected to be similar to current day Greenvale, 350km, north-west of Townsville.
By 2090, Kalgoorlie’s climate would mirror conditions in Exmouth today, while towns in northern WA would be expected to have such extreme temperature and rainfall changes that no parallels could be drawn with other locations across the country.
Some councils have highlighted changes to infrastructure as the biggest response required to deal with climate change, mainly sea levels, temperature and rainfall.
City of Busselton director of planning and development services, Paul Needham, said as part of a partnership between nine coastal local governments between Cape Naturaliste and Point Peron, councils had identified sea level rise, coastal erosion and flooding as major threats. To prepare, the City of Busselton was developing a long-term coastal adaptation plan and setting aside funds for future work, he said.
“One of the key aspects of our response at the moment is the allocation of funds each year into a reserve account (worth) around $375,000 per annum at the moment,” Mr Needham said.
Several councils and ports did not respond to requests for information by the time Business News went to press, while Fremantle Ports would only disclose that climate change was an identified risk with implications that were being taken into account for future engineering plans.
City of Perth chief executive Gary Stevenson said climate change was expected to increase the number of days in the city above 35 degrees from 28 per year currently to 67 per year by 2070.
In response, he said, the city was developing and enhancing a number of plans to ensure water and built environment sustainability via strategies such as planting trees, as well as leading a collaborative action to achieve a 30 per cent reduction on business-as-usual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
A spokeswoman for the Port of Esperance said while climate change and its effects had been recognised as a risk, the port had not fully evaluated the scope and detail related to setting out its response.
“A climate change adaptation plan is to be developed by the port, which will address this matter,” she said.
“The plan is still in its very early stages of development, although one aspect of climate change relating to water saving has been considered by the port and these actions are dealt with in its water efficiency management program.”
