Climate change impacts

• Agriculture
• Biodiversity
• Coasts
• Forests
• Settlements & infrastructure
• Water resources
• By region

As our understanding of the climate system improves, so does our ability to anticipate the likely changes in climate due to increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

The impacts of climate change will often be specific to individual sectors or regions thus making some sectors and regions more vulnerable than others.

Vulnerable sectors

The Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability report commissioned by the Australian Greenhouse Office in 2005 identified the following sectors/regions as most vulnerable in Australia:

• Agriculture - includes cropping and livestock sectors
• Biodiversity - includes national reserves, species diversity, ecosystems
• Coasts - includes fisheries, marine life (Great Barrier Reef), coastal infrastructure,
• Forests -includes natural and plantation forests
• Settlements - includes infrastructure, local government, planning, human health, transport, energy, emergency services
• Water - includes drought, water quality, water supplies

Climate change will affect all natural and man-made systems to some extent. However, the impacts on individual sectors or regions will vary depending on the sensitivity of the system and its adaptive capacity.

Sensitivity of a system is the extent to which changes in climate will affect the system in its current form, while the adaptive capacity of the system is its capacity to change in a way that makes it better equipped to deal with external influences. Both the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of a system will contribute to how vulnerable the system is to changes in climate. Vulnerability is the degree of susceptibility to, or inability to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.

Vulnerability and its components
Source: Climate Change Risk and Vulnerability: Promoting an efficient adaptation response in Australia. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, 2005, p ix

Reports

• Climate Change: Risk and Vulnerability - Promoting an Efficient Adaptation Response in Australia
• Climate Change: An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts

Find out more

For more information about climate change impacts and adaptation visit:

• Impacts and Adaptation Publications
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