2021-03-09 P&E Agenda - Item 8 - Attachment 1 - Climate Change Response Plan

         LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS

Our current climate
The South East Queensland region has a sub-tropical climate. The average annual
temperature is 19°C. Summer average temperature is around 24°C, in autumn and spring it
is 20°C, and in winter 14°C.

Annual and seasonal average rainfall are variable, affected by local factors such as
topography and vegetation, and broader scale weather patterns, such as the El Niño–La
Nina. Most rainfall occurs in summer and autumn.


Our changing climate
Noosa has a long history of climate-driven extremes such as floods, droughts, heatwaves
and bushfires.

Climate change is likely to exacerbate the frequency and/or severity of these events, it can
be an amplifier of these and other hazards, and even lead to the emergence of new risks.
Many communities, businesses, and local governments across Queensland and Australia
are already working to incorporate climate change into their planning and risk management
processes.

Well-considered and effective adaptation measures that support existing lifestyle and
environmental values can help Noosa to manage the adverse impacts of climate change.
Therefore, it is critical we take proactive steps, today, to plan and then carry out adaptation
actions that seek to minimise our short-, medium- and long-term climate risks.

The climate is changing across Queensland. Average temperatures across the state are
around 1°C higher than they were 100 years ago. Recent decades have shown a clear
warming trend driving by unnatural carbon emissions stemming from human activities. The
climate has always been variable, but human-caused climate change is leading to shifts
beyond this natural variability, at a rate that could be as much as 50 times greater than
would have otherwise occurred.

Below is a summary of the expected changes in key climate variables for Noosa, as well as
some of the risks that we will likely need to adapt to. The figures presented have been
obtained from the Queensland Government’s Climate Dashboard (2021), and are based on
a global emissions scenario whereby low-moderate efforts to reduce carbon emissions are
made by the year 20901.

The risks posed by a rapidly changing climate can be chronic (e.g. changes in average
temperature or annual rainfall totals) or acute (e.g. rapid onset but relatively short-lived
disaster events such as floods and storms).




1 This scenario is called ‘Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5’



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Noosa Climate Change Response Plan - draft for council endorsement March 2021