Pressures on the World Heritage Area - Climate Change

What is climate change?

Climate change is an extended change in the average state of the climate or a change in its variability, persisting for decades or longer. Climate change may include temperature increases (global warming), sea-level rises, changes in rainfall patterns and more extreme weather events such as droughts or cyclones.

Climate changes generally occur on a geological timescale and are not noticed over a human lifetime. However, climate change is now occurring at an alarming rate within our lifetimes. Even small changes in average global temperatures will have a major impact on natural environments. It is estimated that there is a 20 year time lag between the emission of greenhouse gases and their effects on climate change. Thus, we are now experiencing changes caused by emissions 20 years ago. Any reduction in emissions will probably not be detectable for another 20 years and until then the effects of climate change will continue to increase.

Impacts of climate change

Climate change is becoming a major threat to the biodiversity of the World Heriatge Area. It can make the impacts of other threats much worse. Current modelling predicts that even minimal global warming of one degree may have significant effects. Global warming could decrease the habitat of many endemic vertebrate species which live in the cooler upland and montane rainforests, leaving only isolated pockets of rainforest for them to live in. It is predicted that seven frog species, five mammal species, three bird species and three skink species would lose over half their present habitat with only a 1ºC temperature increase.

As well as habitat changes, increased temperatures will physiologically affect some animals. Raised cloud levels are likely to change water cycles and affect some frogs and skinks. Seasonal changes may affect plant reproduction and fire regimes. Increased sea levels, cyclones and flooding may drastically affect coastal ecosystems.

Climate change may cause ecosystem disturbance, create changes in water and fire regimes and increase vulnerability to invasion by feral animals, weeds and pathogens. Wet Tropics ecosystems that are already fragmented and disrupted are less able to adapt to any changes wrought by global warming.

The neighbouring Great Barrier Reef WHA is also threatened by climate change. Increases in water temperatures from 2ºC to 6 ºC will have severe implications for the health of coral reefs, fisheries and coastal ecosystems which are shared with the Wet Tropics WHA.

Download a detailed summary of the impacts of climate change on the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

Download a copy of the Rainforest CRC report: Environmental Crisis: Climate Change and Terrestrial Biodiversity in Queensland.

Download Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Wet Tropics: A Preliminary Inventory.This audit provides a detailed summary of the sources and levels of GHG emissions in the Wet Tropics for 2005 and compares them to Queensland and Australian emission levels. A brief summary of the inventory is also available.

What can we do?

The Wet Tropics Management Authority proudly supports the North Queensland Climate Alliance in its efforts to promote local action to reduce greenhousde gas emissions and minimise the impacts of climate change in the Wet Tropics.You can download a membership brochure here.

Climate change will also increase the impacts of other threats such as fragmentation, pests and changed water and fire regimes. It has never been more necessary to make sure our ecosystems are resilient and to reduce the other threats to the World Heritage Area.

For more information about climate change and its potential impacts and what is being done to help prevent climate change, see the Australian Greenhouse Office website.