The entire Australian coastline will be mapped to prepare for projected flooding from rising seas under a government project to be launched at the Paris climate summit that could lead to national standards for how close homes should be built to shorelines.
It is part of a new climate change adaptation plan to be unveiled by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday, amid debates at the talks over how the world will deal in a global agreement with locked in climate change. Environment Minister Greg Hunt is in Paris for the talks.
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| Environment Minister Greg Hunt is in Paris for the talks. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen |
Mr Hunt told Fairfax Media he hoped that the coastal data - due to be completed and made public in late 2017 - would be picked up by state governments to guide planning laws about how close homes and other property should be allowed to be built to the coast given expected future flooding and erosion from rising seas and storm surges.
Coastal planning laws have been controversial in a number of states, sparking bitter disputes between local councils, states governments and business. Regulations currently differ between jurisdictions.
Mr Hunt conceded the Commonwealth would not be able to force the states to adopt national standards on the basis of the new mapping data.
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| Majuro atoll, the Marshall Islands - one of the countries most affected by rising sea levels. Photo: Rob Griffith |
"They are not bound, but it should be the definitive guide for everybody to benchmark their long-term planning," he said.
The Australian delegation believes launching the strategy in Paris, at a side event to the talks, sends a signal to developing countries that put strong emphasis on adaptation that Australia takes the issue seriously.
It contains few new concrete measures and is largely an articulation of what is already being done to address the climate change risk to coasts, cities, water resources and other key areas.
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| Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Parliament. She will attend the second week of the talks. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen |
It follows Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday mocking claims by her opposition counterpart, Tanya Plibersek, that an island in the Marshall Islands had disappeared into the sea. It turns out Ms Plibersek's transcript named the wrong island. She named Eneko, the island that disappeared is Anebok.
The debates on adaptation in Paris centres on whether all countries will be asked to deliver plans of how they will they adapt as well as emissions targets.
Many developing countries want a dedicated proportion of climate funding - say, half - to be dedicated to adaptation. Currently, it is just one-sixth.
Australia is unlikely to back the latter push. Mr Hunt said: "We are more relaxed, but I don't think it will get there because there is some countries that have strong views, for example the United States."
Tuesday in Paris was the first full day of negotiations on the text of a new agreement. Negotiators are being asked to have a final draft ready by Saturday, though many doubt this is possible.
Many of the groups that met in the morning were reporting slow progress. In some session more brackets - representing areas of dispute - were being inserted into the text than taken out. But afternoon sessions were said to be going better.
US President Barack Obama announced one potential compromise, saying his country would push for parts of the agreement to be legally binding - partly meeting a demand of European nations and some developing states. The legally binding elements would include regular reviews of targets, but not the targets themselves.
India is regarded as the country to watch - it is consistently holding a tough line in the negotiations. It is big enough, as the third-largest emitter, to bring down an agreement if it walks away.
Other countries named as roadblocks by several delegates were Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Tony La Vina, a member of the Philippines negotiation team, said Australian officials had changed their stance at the negotiations since Malcolm Turnbull had replaced Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.
"It's the language used, and certainly they are more appreciative of the science and less dismissive of the process," Mr La Vina said. "There's more willingness to engage."
The Philippines lead the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 30 nations – many in the Pacific – that are anxious for a pact to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Most countries, including Australia, agree to a 2-degree target.
This week the forum unveiled a demand for the world to have "net zero" emissions and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050.
The debate over the long-term ambition in the text is one of the elements at play in the negotiations.
It is understood Australia would be comfortable using language such as zero net emissions by the second half of century, but many other nations, especially oil rich ones, want more ambiguous wording.
Mr La Vina predicted the climate funding issue for developing nations would be one of the last features to be resolved at Paris.
Chinese negotiators were not considered very active in the talks on Monday, but behind the scenes many countries are confident that the Chinese - accounting for almost one-quarter of global emissions - will be working to achieve an agreement.
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