The Climate Commission says failure to act against climate change in the next 10 years could lead to major disasters on the New South Wales far south coast.

 

The Commisison has released a report, The Critical Decade: Illawarra/NSW South Coast Impacts, which provides a snapshot of the changes in climate that can be expected in the region.

 

“Risks to the region include higher-intensity bushfires and more of them; vulnerability of coastal towns and infrastructure to rising sea levels; severe flooding due to changing rainfall patterns; and threats to the region’s biodiversity.”

 

Professor Will Steffen, Climate Commissioner and author of the report, states, “The evidence for climate change is overwhelming and clear. This report shows that the NSW South Coast and the Illawarra region are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate.”

 

This report accompanies the national report presented by the Commission to the Prime Minister in May. According to Professor Steffen, “the case for action has never been more urgent. We thought it was important to quantify some of those risks for the Illawarra and South Coast NSW, as well as other regions around Australia.”


Download The Critical Decade: Illawarra/NSW South Coast Impacts