Adapting to a changing climate

[Qld Fisheries, Editor]

Adapting to a changing climate
           

The first of ten regional Queensland Climate Variability and Adaptation Workshops was held recently in Longreach, attracting stakeholders from primary industries and government, resource management groups and community organisations.

Led by the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), the workshops are part of a four-year, $3.5 million Queensland Government project to help regional businesses prepare for the impacts of projected climate change.

Project manager, DEEDI´s Neil Cliffe, said the regional workshops were about sharing the latest, localised climate information and introducing tools to help with adaptation to climate change.

"DEEDI has partnered with the Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence to develop customised regional climate change projections and evaluation tools such as the climate risk matrix," Mr Cliffe said.

"These tools will help regional businesses and organisations prioritise their areas of vulnerability to climate change and focus adaptation efforts on areas likely to be most impacted.

"For example, the suitability and productivity of some livestock and cropping businesses will be impacted by increasing temperatures and producers might want to consider diversification or changes to management techniques."

Mr Cliffe said the regional workshops were also an opportunity to invite participants to work with DEEDI on climate variability issues.

"If producers or other regional business owners or organisations want to work with us, we have practical tools to offer and we´re happy to help," he said.

"We´ve already met peak industry bodies including grazing, horticulture, intensive cropping and fisheries to discuss how they might build their capacity to assist their members to adapt and we´ll continue to liaise with them in the future."

The workshops will continue around regional Queensland in 2011. Regional climate change projections and tools to assist with adaptation to climate change are available at www.climatechange.qld.gov.au


The Climate Risk Management and Adaptation Project is funded by the Queensland Government´s Q2 Coasts and Country program.

In addition to this initiative, $3.2 million has also been invested in the Helping Primary Producers Adapt to Climate Change initiative under Queensland´s climate change strategy ClimateQ: toward a greener Queensland, which will undertake complementary activities to manage the impacts of climate change.

           

[Member]

I am still not convinced of climate change.  A cycle possibly.

Have you noticed they dont call it global warming anymore.  For the last 2 climate change conferences, held in europe all delegates had to rug up as they experienced the 2 coldest snaps in Europe for decades.

The next will probably be held in Alice Springs in mid summer.

One thing that is a certainty, we will all be taxed on this.

Regards Gordon