The Minister for Climate Change, Cassy O’Connor MP, today announced the release of climate profiles for all 29 local government areas in Tasmania.
“These climate profiles, developed by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, highlight key results from the Climate Futures for Tasmania project at the local area level,” said Ms O’Connor.
“This world-leading, science-based tool will help councils to make informed strategic planning decisions about the future of their municipality.
“Information is provided on past and current climate, and projected changes in temperature, rainfall and runoff, extreme events and other climatic impacts under scenarios of future climate change.
“There are differences in projected climate change across our State so it is very important that Tasmanian communities have access to climate change information at an appropriate scale to allow for local decision making.”
For example the climate profiles report that if we follow a scenario of high greenhouse gas emissions, rainfall in the West Coast municipality is projected to decrease in summer and autumn but increase in winter and spring. In contrast, rainfall in the Break O’Day municipality is projected to increase in summer and autumn, including more heavy rainfalls ilke we have seen recently”.
Ms O’Connor said that this type of local level climate information will help councils, resource managers and businesses in particular understand the projected
impacts of future climate changes to their local area and assist them adapt to these changes.
“The Southern local government area climate profiles have already been used to inform the development of a Southern Regional Adaptation Strategy and Council Adaptation Plans for the Southern councils.
“The Tasmanian Government is committed to providing quality climate change science and information to the broader community. That is why we have invested significantly in the Climate Futures for Tasmania project and related extension work, such as the development of these climate profiles.”
The Southern local government area climate profiles were developed through the Regional Councils Climate Adaptation Project (RCCAP), managed by the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority in partnership with the Tasmanian Climate Change Office and the Local Government Association of Tasmania. Funding for the RCCAP was provided by the Australian Government through the Local Government Reform Fund.
The North and North-west climate profiles were developed using funding from the Tasmanian Government.
The local government area climate profiles are available to download from www.climatechange.tas.gov.au, follow the links under Adaptation – Climate Futures for Tasmania.
The information can be accessed by the Tas Climate Change Website:
www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/adapting/climate_futures/_nocache
Info is in pdf fact sheets:
http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/160978/Brighton.pdf
The climate futures information has also been uploaded to the LIST (Land Information System Tasmania). The info appears in overlays for the state.
• Mean temperature change
• Annual rainfall change
• Pan evaporation change
• Relative humidity change
http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/adapting/climate_futures/climate_futures_for_tasmania_maps
