Iain Harrison remembers clambering up the sandy dunes at the Inverloch surf beach when he was a toddler, more than 50 years ago. They were covered in spinifex and coastal daisies and when he made it to the top, there was a view of the sea.
When the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club was built a decade ago the dunes were still there, but now they have disappeared. In the eight years to 2020, the coastline in front of the club has moved landwards by about 50 metres, an average of about seven metres per year.
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Inverloch Surf Lifesaving club President Warren Cook, pictured
here with his daughter Jasmine. When the surf lifesaving club was
built 10 years ago, it had no view of the sea but now the water is
30 metres from the door. Credit: Jason South
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He’s a horticulturist and has been aware of the scientific reality of global warming, and the accompanying sea level rise and intense weather, since the 1980s.
“I always thought I’d be outlived by the changes, but now they are accelerating and will have a major impact in the next 10 years,” he says.
“My greatest concern is how it will affect my two children, and what they are going to have to face.”
The club has lost two patrol towers to storms over the past few years and now uses a mobile tower that is towed onto the sand, says club president Warren Cook.
“We never used to have a view of the sea, but we’re now 30 metres from water’s edge at high tide.”
At nearby Anderson Inlet, also in Inverloch, the coastline has crept landwards by about 85 metres between 2006 and 2020.
Bass Coast Shire Council is part of a coalition of local councils in Melbourne’s south-east and regional areas urging the state government to take stronger action on climate action and sea level rise after experiencing significant erosion and storm damage.
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Erosion next to the Kilcunda rail trail bike path
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And this is not limited to Inverloch, says the council, which is calling for greater state and federal support.
In a single year the coastline in front of the popular rail trail at Kilcunda, about 25 kilometres from Inverloch, has moved landwards by 14 metres, and the council has had to temporarily relocate this section of the trail further inland.
At Cowes East, on Phillip Island’s north shore, the sea has been kept at bay by regular top-ups of sand.
This year the council will build a 300-metre rock wall and eight timber barriers to secure the shoreline.
It has contributed $1.7 million and secured federal funding of $1.1 million, but it’s still about $1.6 million short and wants the state government to step in.
Simon Woodland, Bass Council’s manager for sustainable environment, says the area’s 40 kilometres of sandy coastline have always been dynamic, but climate change is ratcheting up the storm intensity that drives sand movement and the baseline sea level that underpins it.
“We often talk about climate change in terms of impacts on future generations but what we need to get our heads around is that we are the future generations, dealing with the consequences of decisions that were made for us decades ago,” he said.
“We’ve developed to the coastline in so many places and local councils are on the front line, facing ever-escalating challenges with the least resources of any tier of government.”
The sea level is projected to rise about 24 centimetres across Victoria by the 2050s. Geomorphologist David Kennedy, from the University of Melbourne, says climate change is also causing more intense storms, ocean surges and wind.
Victoria has also experienced a change in wind direction, meaning waves are, on average, travelling 2 or 3 degrees in a more westerly direction, which is starting to shift the sand on the state’s beaches, he says.
Planning for sea level rise needs an integrated, statewide approach or Victoria will end up with a highly-engineered coastline like Japan, Associate Professor Kennedy says. “We live in a dynamic zone, and it will become more dynamic in the future.”
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Erosion at Cowes East
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“In the absence of broader leadership, councils, and the communities they represent, are at the frontline of dealing with climate change impacts,” says Bayside mayor Laurence Evans.
Mr Woodland says coastal councils across Victoria will be forced to have difficult conversations with residents about which developments are “defendable” against inevitable sea level change over decades.
“A lot of focus goes to protecting the built assets like roads and buildings behind the foreshore, but the foreshore itself holds all sorts of values, from wildlife habitat to culturally significant sites that date back thousands of years.”
Beach erosion locations on the Bass Coast
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“We continue to work with local councils on coastal adaptation plans which help protect Crown land and critical infrastructure from the impacts of storm surge, wave attack and rising sea levels.”
The state government is developing a Cape to Cape Resilience Project, which will study the impact of rising sea levels and changing wind and wave climates on the coastal area between Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap.
Links
- Climate change and sea-level rise based on observed data
- Counting the Costs: Climate Change and Coastal Flooding
- How will rising sea level impact Australia’s iconic coastal cities?
- Rising sea levels in Australia may demand novel solutions
- Climate change and sea-level rise in the Australian region
- Planning for sea-level rise
- Households could be up for $2b electricity transmission cost blowout
- News Corp about-turn on emissions too little, too late, scientists say
- Australian company aims high as US declares massive solar target
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