18 August 2005news.com.auVerity Edwards
Australia faces the prospect of a dry and dusty Murray river, the disappearance of world heritage areas, the death of coral reefs and rising seas - and all by the end of this century.Environmental expert Tim Flannery, who spoke about climate change at a Museum of South Australia lecture in Adelaide last night, said temperatures were rising about 50 times faster than they had in the lead-up to the last ice age.
He said the amount of coal burnt throughout the world and in particular Australia meant temperatures would continue to rise rapidly.
"At the end of this century temperatures will have risen by three degrees," Dr Flannery said. "What's causing that is simply us burning fossil fuels."
Dr Flannery, who is due to release a book on climate change next month, said Australia burnt more fossil fuels per capita and exported more coal than any other nation.
"Cities will be under increasing water stress, we'll lose world heritage areas, we'll lose our coral reefs worldwide, seas will rise by up to 6 metres," he said.
Dr Flannery warned annual rainfall would also decrease in areas. "It's likely to dry the Murray up or put further stress on it," he said. "Southern states are being particularly impacted upon by lower rainfalls."
Even with a temperature rise of 2C, Dr Flannery said mountain rainforests and their fauna would slowly disappear, Kakadu would dry up and polar ecosystems would become extinct.
Dr Flannery said studies on carbon dioxide bubbles in Antarctic ice caps had shown temperatures rose by almost 1C last century. "What that means is the earth is warming up very, very rapidly," he said. "It doesn't sound very much but it has some very important implications."
Dr Flannery said since 2000, climate changes had become increasingly obvious.
In 2003 warmer temperatures created the hottest European summer in 50,000 years, causing 26,000 deaths and unprecedented drought in the US.
