Environment Victoria today welcomed calls for urgent action on climate change and coastal areas by the House of Representatives committee report.
The report found that 700,000 coastal properties worth $150 billion are threatened nationally, with Westernport Bay likely to be particularly hard hit in Victoria.
Environment Victoria’s Campaigns Director Mark Wakeham said today:
“The report is a welcome wake-up call that climate change is happening right now and that we need to plan for the impacts immediately.
“It’s very significant that the report is supported by both the ALP and the Coalition. Both major parties are now issuing a warning that climate change is having major impacts and that sea level rise will have catastrophic consequences.
“The urgency of this warning, however, is not currently being matched by the climate change policies of the Federal ALP and Coalition who are proposing meek emissions reductions targets that will guarantee worse impacts than those outlined in this report.
“The report highlights that we need to re-think our coastal planning, make evacuation plans for extreme weather events and plan for 1 in 100 year storms to now happen every 4 years in Victoria.
“As well as planning for future disasters, we need to plan to avoid these disasters through supporting a climate change deal in Copenhagen that gives us the best chance of a safe climate future.”
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