(AU) Fossil Fuel Industry Levy Should Pay For Bushfire Impact, Climate Action Group Report Says

ABC News - Philippa McDonald

An report by experts is out today and aims to improve bushfire responses. (AAP: Dan Peled)

Key Points A group of 150 experts and bushfire survivors came together in June and July to discuss improvements to bushfire preparation There are more than 165 recommendations in the Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan report out today One key recommendation is a climate disaster fund financed by a fossil fuel levy

Former emergency leaders, climate scientists, doctors and community members are calling on the Federal Government to impose a levy on the fossil fuel industry for a climate disaster fund to help pay for the impact of natural disasters.

It comes as part of 165 recommendations by the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA), a group of more than 150 experts and affected community members, in a bid to improve bushfire readiness, response and recovery.

It follows the ELCA National Bushfire Summit, which took place in June and July — and it's hoped the findings will be included in the royal commission report, which is due to be handed to the Government next month.

ELCA co-founder and former Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins told the ABC climate change was behind last summer's catastrophic bushfire season.

Former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins is calling for a fossil fuel levy. (ABC News: John Mees)

"The escalation in natural disasters is driven by climate change," he said.

"There should be a levy on the fossil fuel industry, given all their tax breaks.

"We had the hottest, driest year ever — a year that would not have happened without the impact of climate change.

"It drove the worst bushfires in Australia's history — they were bigger, hotter, faster and more destructive [than] what we've ever experienced before."

"The fires were weather driven and the weather was driven by a warming climate," Mr Mullins said.

'Rapidly escalating threat'

The report, the Australian Bushfire and Climate Plan, to be released later today, describes a "new bushfire era where we must fundamentally rethink how we prepare for and manage this growing threat".

"There is no doubt that bushfires in Australia have become more frequent, ferocious and unpredictable," the report states.

Anatomy of a 'mega-blaze'

As the first Black Summer inquiry prepares to report, we reveal the inside story of Australia's biggest bushfire. Read more ›

The coalition of experts includes ELCA members and the Climate Council of Australia, who more than a year ago warned of a catastrophic bushfire season.

"Sadly, those warnings fell on deaf ears and, as the world watched on in horror, those same warnings became a harsh reality."

The ELCA, which includes former emergency services commissioners from all over Australia, has accused the Federal Government of underestimating and ignoring "the rapidly escalating threat of climate change".

"Consequently, our land management, fire and emergency services are under-resourced, disaster recovery is under-resourced and communities are underprepared for the worsening bushfire threat," the report said.

"Communities and ecosystems were already being pushed beyond their ability to adapt."

Luke Wright takes a rest after putting out spot-fires at his brother's home in Oakdale, in Sydney's south-west, in December. (ABC News: Selby Stewart)

The group said its recommendations would cost billions of dollars to implement.

It is calling for greater funding for firefighting and land management to ensure faster identification and dousing of new fires.

Mr Mullins stressed Australia could no longer rely on assistance from overseas aerial firefighting resources due to "overlapping bushfire seasons".

The report identifies a gap in aerial firefighting resources, specifically CL-415s — so-called "Super Scoopers" — that can drop 6,000 litres of water or firefighting foam at a time.

"We need a large number of these," Mr Mullins told the ABC.

Mr Mullins says more aerial firefighting resources are needed. (Reuters: Mike Blake)

The group is also advocating for an Indigenous-led National Cultural Fire Strategy, and greater action to address the health effects of bushfires.

Smoke from the recent bushfires resulted in more than 400 deaths and another 4,000 people being treated in hospital, the ELCA said.

The Federal Minister for Emergency Management has been contacted for comment.


Anatomy of a mega-blaze

Links

• Australia's largest ever bushfire, like you've never seen it before'
• Almost inconceivable': 3 billion animals believed killed or displaced in Australia's summer fires
• Karen and Stacey have never met but bonded for life fighting a 'continuous beast'
• Fund designed to mitigate natural disasters untouched at end of financial year
• (AU) 'Climate Change War' Demands National, Military-Style Response: Ex-Fire Chiefs
• (AU) More Than A Third Of NSW Rainforests Found To Have Been Hit By Australian Bushfires
• (AU) Australian Bushfires: How The Morrison Government Failed To Heed Warnings Of Catastrophe
• (AU) Bushfire Hearings Spotlight Climate Change

(AU) Wamberal Beach Erosion: Seawall Would Deliver No Net Benefit, Study Finds

The Guardian - Anne Davies

Report raises concerns around seawalls’ cost and effectiveness as low pressure system to batter NSW coastline with high tides and huge waves

Coastal beach erosion and home damage at Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast. A report says a trade-off of protecting about 60 beachfront properties with a seawall would be a potential drop in visitors due to loss of the beach. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

A cost-benefit analysis of options for a seawall at Wamberal beach commissioned by the New South Wales government in 2017 found that none of the six engineering options considered would deliver a net public benefit and that erosion would only increase with rising sea levels.

“A seawall will provide benefits to beachfront properties by reducing the impacts of coastal processes,” the report by Marsden Jacobs found.

“However, in the longer term, more properties in this area are likely to experience greater damage and loss of property values from the increased flooding of Terrigal lagoon associated with sea level rise.

“Higher sea levels will result in the increasingly frequent inundation of hundreds of properties surrounding the Terrigal lagoon, the loss of the beach, and impacts on council assets such as water, electricity, sewerage and roads,” it found.

“The key beneficiaries from construction of a seawall are the approximately 60 owners of beachfront properties at Wamberal.”

As the Central Coast of NSW braces for another lashing today, the state government is still sitting on another report by the NSW coastal council, commissioned by the local government minister, Shelley Hancock, which looks at the vexed problems of seawalls and coastal erosion in the state.

Councils up and down the coast face a dilemma: should they require their entire ratepayer base, which often includes many retirees, to support costly seawall projects that often involve ongoing requirements for beach replenishment?

Or should councils be looking at adaption strategies that accept that coasts are dynamic – some areas such as Wamberal, Collaroy, Byron Bay and Port Stephens more so than others – and that the battle to protect inappropriately located development will become even more difficult due to sea level rise?

Letting properties slide into the sea is politically unpalatable and the cost of buying up the waterfront properties far more expensive than it was 50 years ago when the first problems emerged.

Former coastal council member and engineer Angus Gordon says the answer lies in changing the Local Government Act to allow councils to recoup the costs of the seawall from waterfront property owners over time, though a long-term levy on the affected properties.

Other schemes, at Collaroy, have involved subsidies from state and local government, with waterfront home owners still facing $400,000 bills to build the wall.

Yet there remains concerns about both the environmental impact of seawalls and how they will perform in the future.

The Marsden Jacobs study on Wamberal was informed by a detailed study by the then-NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, which found that the coastal processes acting on the dune that separates Terrigal lagoon from Wamberal beach – and where the most vulnerable houses are located – are complex and will get worse with sea level rise.

It found that without a wall, 82 properties in the study area are likely to be affected by coastal processes over a 20-year timeframe, and 92 properties over 50 years.

In May this year, Central Coast council commissioned Manly Hydraulic Laboratory to design a concept plan for a seawall solution. The $400,000 study is being funded by both the state government and council. Another company, Royal Haskoning DHV, looked at short-term measures.

But as the Marden Jacobs report detailed, the trade-off from protecting about 60 beachfront properties with a seawall would be the potential loss of visits due to the loss of the beach.

“This loss of visitors may create some concern in the wider Central Coast local government area, especially as 32% of the beachfront properties that would potentially be protected by a seawall (at the expense of the beach) are only occupied occasionally,” Mardsen Jacobs said.

The report considered a range of structural engineering approaches to protect beachfront properties and other infrastructure at Wamberal beach and the surrounding lagoon properties from the effects of coastal processes.

It found that none of the engineering options considered provided a net public benefit for the local community. This is because all of the seawall options would result in the loss of beach areas, and without sand replenishment the beach would quickly disappear, with significant costs to the local tourism industry.

Marsden Jacobs said it was not clear which seawall option would lead to the fastest loss of the beach but all would result in an unusable beach by 2064, without a major sand replenishment program.

“The cost of sand replenishment is very high and outweighs the benefits of retaining a beach in front of a seawall,” it said. “Only a Planned Retreat option (Option 8) -retreat by managing the duration, type and intensity of future development within the coastal hazard area – provided greater benefits than a continuation of the current approach.”

The beach at Wamberal was vulnerable to erosion long before the first homes were built. Terrigal lagoon sits directly behind Wamberal beach and currently drains into the sea just to the south of the slipping houses, but locals says the lagoon used to drain to the beach at a different spot, suggesting active coastal processes.

Two storms in the 1970s – in May 74 and June 78 – saw several houses on the strip claimed by the sea. Boulders rubbish, car bodies and the remains of houses were dumped as a makeshift wall and the sand eventually returned.

At that stage the council could have bought back properties. Instead it continued to approve development, requiring new homes to have deep piles into the sand.

Comment has been sought from Central Coast council.

Links

• Against the tide: storm-battered residents cling to beachfront homes on Australian east coast
• NSW Central Coast houses partially collapse after beach erosion caused by swells
• (AU) Wild Weather Leaves NSW Homes At Risk Of 'Structural Collapse Due To Beach Erosion'
• (AU) Erosion From Surging Seas Threatens Roads, Homes And Beaches
• Climate Crisis: Sea Level ‘On Course To Rise By One Metre By 2100’ If Global Emissions Targets Are Missed
• (AU) Thousands Of Kilometres Of Australia's Beaches At Risk From Rising Seas
• Rising Sea Levels Pose Threat To Homes Of 300m People – Study
• Extreme Sea Level Events ‘Will Hit Once A Year By 2050’
• Rising Sea, Erosion To Wreak Havoc In Low-Lying Suburbs: Report
• Rising Seas Threaten Australia’s Major Airports – And It May Be Happening Faster Than We Think
• Climate Change Predicted To Wipe $571 Billion Off Property Values

‘Unequivocal Link’ Between Extreme Bushfires And Climate Crisis

NEWS.com.au - Erin Lyons

There is an “unequivocal” link between climate change and the worst bushfire season on record, leading scientists have told a Senate inquiry.

Fire threatens homes along the Bells Line of Road in Bilpin in the NSW Blue Mountains. Picture: Jeremy Piper Source: News Corp Australia

Leading Australian scientists say there was an “unequivocal” link between last summer’s catastrophic bushfire season and climate change.

Speaking at Wednesday’s Senate inquiry into the 2019-2020 bushfire season, Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) chief executive officer Dr Andrew Johnson said “there’s no doubt” the planet was warming.

“There’s no doubt the causes of that warming have significant human footprint. That’s well established and scientific evidence is unequivocal,” he said. He said average temperatures had risen 1.4C since the turn of the century while parts of the country had experienced a rapid decline in rainfall.

“How that (global warming) translates to a severe weather event is a broad field, (but) there are certain dimensions of the warming planet and what we’re experiencing today that’s becoming clear,” he said.

In January Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor suggested the country did not need to cut emissions more aggressively in a bid to stem global warming despite a three-year drought and raging fires.

Average temperatures have risen 1.4C since the turn of the century. Picture: Jeremy Piper Source: News Corp Australia

Australia contributes about 1.3 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions but remains one of the largest carbon emitters per capita.

Dr Johnson said a rise in global emissions was driving up temperatures, which was likely to increase the risk of bushfires.

“Bushfires are starting earlier and ending later. There’s a climate signal in that,” he told the panel.

“How that plays out in the future will very much depend on how humanity responds.”

He said the bureau had provided extensive advice to government about the link between climate change, bushfires and emissions.

“We’ve been very clear and consistent in our advice to government across all three levels for many years,” Dr Johnson said.

“That advice is freely available to the general community.

Noting the BOM’s submission, Queensland Senator Murray Watt said it had provided more than 100 briefings about the bushfire risk to federal and state governments in the months leading up to what would be the most catastrophic bushfire season on record.

That included briefings about the risk associated with areas that were the hardest hit.

In January Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor suggested the country did not need to cut emissions more aggressively. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage Source: News Corp Australia

Dr Johnson said the bureau provided “extensive briefings to all levels of government leading into the summer”, spanning from daily updates to forward briefings.

Committee chair Senator Tim Ayres questioned several of the country’s most well-regarded scientists and scientific bodies about one of the nation’s most “catastrophic events”.

Professor Mark Howden, of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University, said drought, high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds all contributed to the development of extreme bushfires.

This is on top of the lowest rainfall and highest temperatures experienced on record.

“There’s a long and strong link to reduced humidity due to climate change which is projected to get worse in the future,” Prof Howden said.

“Each of these four major drivers will get worse … and the risks associated with climate change are growing.”

Leading Australian scientists say there is an ‘unequivocal’ link between last summer’s catastrophic bushfire season and climate change. Picture: WWF Source: Supplied

Professor Jason Sharples, of UNSW’s School of Science, echoed those comments, saying “what drives bushfires will increase due to global warming”.

“It’s hard to put an exact number on whether that will double or triple,” he said.

Prof Howden argued that Australia, along with the rest of the world, must reduce greenhouses gases.

“The question is whether we can extend that action (from the Paris Agreement),” he said.

Although, this summer could look a little different.

Dr Karl Braganza, the BOM’s head of climate change, said there was a potential for a La Niña event – the cooling of the Pacific Ocean – to occur this year.

He explained this could increase the risk of tropical cyclones and flooding.

Bureau of Meteorology chief executive officer Dr Andrew Johnson says ‘there’s no doubt’ the planet is warming. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones Source: News Corp Australia

“We would have to increase provisions for those things,” he told the inquiry.

“All going well, (it) would mean more rain and reduce the risk of bushfires this summer. Having said that we haven’t seen the rain we expected to fall in the recent months.

“We are watching conditions as they unfold.”

He said the bureau would now focus on its long-range forecasts.

“There’s still some very parched areas of the country so the next few months is crucial,” Dr Braganza said.

The inquiry continues.

Links

• (AU) Fossil Fuel Industry Levy Should Pay For Bushfire Impact, Climate Action Group Report Says
• (AU) Almost 3 Billion Animals Affected By Australian Bushfires, Report Shows
• (AU) 'Climate Change War' Demands National, Military-Style Response: Ex-Fire Chiefs
• (AU) Logging And Fire Both Make Forests More Flammable
• (AU) Bushfire Hearings Spotlight Climate Change