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CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURE CONSERVATION

CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURE CONSERVATION. For many years TWS has a philosophy that our best contribution to meeting the threat of climate change was through the protection of standing carbon in forests and woodlands. . e. Ending broad acre land clearing in Queensland over 2004-6

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURE CONSERVATION

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  1. CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURE CONSERVATION

  2. For many years TWS has a philosophy that our best contribution to meeting the threat of climate change was through the protection of standing carbon in forests and woodlands.

  3. e Ending broad acre land clearing in Queensland over 2004-6 helped Australia meet its Kyoto targets.

  4. Protecting carbon rich forests can only help…

  5. TWS FOSSIL FUEL POLICY 2013 • Oppose the extraction and use of fossil fuels as an energy source; • Campaign against the exploitation of new fossil fuel basins and large new fossil fuel developments; • Campaign for new laws and improved corporate behaviour that deliver a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.

  6. Fossil Fuels Campaign

  7. BIG NUMBERS • Maules Creek – 500 megatonnes CO2 equivalent • Pilliga/Channel Country – 10 gigatonnes CO2 equivalent • Canning Basin – 25 gigatonnes CO2 equivalent • Arckaringa – 100 gigatonnes CO2 equivalent • Great Australian Bight – 10 gigatonnes CO2 equivalent

  8. Humans are affecting the atmosphere…

  9. We are already seeing…. • Geographic range shifts (mainly south, some upwards) • Life cycles (eg. advances in flowering, bird migration) • Genetic change (heat shock proteins) • Body size (latitudinal clines shifting) • Warm-adapted species in communities increasing at expense of cool-adapted

  10. What to expect in the future …more of the same…but accelerating… • Range expansions at cooler boundaries, contractions at warmer boundaries, many overall range contractions • Decoupling of current day species interactions • Population losses under climatic stress • Shifts in ecotones • Novel communities • Increased extinction rates

  11. Some places getting drier, others wetter……. • Long term drying trend in south east • “Big Dry” 1997-2009 driest period on record, surpassing “Federation” & “WWII” droughts • 10-20% reduction in late autumn/winter rainfall during last 2 decades

  12. Global predictions of extinction rates • Thomas et al (2004): 18 – 35% of species predicted to be “committed to extinction” or highly threatened by climate change by 2050 • IPCC (2007): 20-30% of species likely to be at increasingly high risk of extinction at 2-3oC above pre-industrial levels • Warren (2011): 40% species at risk of extinction at 4oC

  13. Ecosystems most at risk • Alpine zone • Coastal wetlands • Freshwater wetlands & rivers • North QLD Wet Tropics • South-west WA • Coral reefs

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