Climate change in Sydney

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The climate change is one of the major concerns of environmental degradation that the modern this society have to face. Due to the increased activities of the modern human, there has been a significant pressure upon the natural resources including fossil fuels. The use of the fossil fuel is associated with release of greenhouse gases which includes carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. These greenhouse gases are mainly responsible for the cause of climate change and global warming. The long term effect of this climate change can have a catastrophic effect upon the human society by disturbing the natural ecological balance (Head et al. 2014)

In this current assignment, the focus will be upon the future effect and consequence of Climate Change that is feared to affect the city of Sydney in Australia by the year 2030 and 2070. It is important to mention that Sydney being the largest Metropolitan city of Australia has to be at the pressure of overpopulation. This is one of the major causes of environmental degradation in the form of climate change. The current report will discuss in details about the long term and short term effect of global warming up on the city of Sydney. The issues will be discussed upon the adaptation policies that are implemented in order to minimize the catastrophic effects associated with climate change.

Being one of the largest and populated Metropolitan cities of the world, Sydney is one of the worst affected areas that have faced the effects of global warming and climate change. It is believed that the average temperature of the city will increase by nearly about 50% more compared to any other Metropolitan cities in Australia (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017). Due to the increase demand of energy, there is a huge pressure up on the natural resources of the Sydney. The city is located at the coastal area of Eastern Pacific region. This is also the region of coastal basin in Pacific Ocean. Hence, the geographical position City makes it more vulnerable towards the climate change due to the fact that the coastal areas are highly prone to increased sea level (Wroe et al. 2013).

The estimated population of Sydney and other surrounding areas in the state of New South Wales is estimated to be around 7.2 million, which was according to the report of 2016. This accounts for nearly 32% of the total Australian population (Lawrence et al. 2013). There are about 65000 local and commercial houses located in the coastal areas of Sydney. The total distance that is covered by the road in Sydney is estimated to be around 4800 km (Banwell et al. 2015). additionally; there are about 320 km of railway track in and around the city of Sydney. It is estimated that with the sea level rise of 1.1 m most of the commercial houses and roads of Sydney vulnerable to danger. Has the city will have to face huge amount of commercial loss due to the effect of climate change. According to current estimation, the total loss of commercial and private property due to the effect of rising sea level can be up to 20 billion Australian dollars (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017).

Effect of Climate Change on water reservoirs

High level of sea rise that can occur in the city of Sydney is due to the fact that on average, it has been noted that the state of New South Wales have encounter 1 Degree rise in the average temperature. It is also believed that if the present rate of Climate Change continues by the year 2030 there will be a significant all in the precipitation level within the city. On the other hand, there is a chance the total distribution of rainfall will be highly uneven. In some areas of Sydney and other parts of New South Wales, rainfall is expected to increase by 7%. On the other hand, in some areas the rainfall is expected to go down by 13% (Department of the Environment and Energy, 2017). This unequal distribution of rainfall can result in natural calamities, which can include flood in one area and draught in the other at simultaneous time.  Decrease rainfall in certain areas can result in shortage of water in the flow of local water bodies. The average rate of humidity is also expected to go down due to shortage of rainfall. With the average temperature of Sydney going up, it is predicted that the summer season will last longer in the recent future. The average temperature of the summer season will be expected 26 degree Celsius. It is also believe that the chilling winter season will last for shorter duration with the average temperature really going below zero degrees Celsius. The average rate of increase of the local climatic temperature is also expected to increase significantly at a rate of 6.4 degree Celsius per year. This case will likely to be evident by the year 2070 (Bell 2016). The average rainfall throughout the year is also expected to go down by almost 40% by 2070. Hence, in long term process, the effect of climate change can result in dry weather with less amount of rainfall in the city of Sydney.

The climate change can also disturb the wind pattern in the Sydney coast. This can result in increased frequency of severe Storms, which will have the capability to destroy significant amount of the property (Howes, et al. 2015).

As the total amount of average rainfall will be affected due to the effect of climate change, it is evident about the fact that the amount of water that are stored in the local reserves will dry up significantly. Currently it is estimated that the total water storage capacity of the currently existing reserve is about 2600 GL (El-Zein and Tonmoy 2015). The neighboring Hawkesbury-Nepean is one of the major source water flows within the city. The upstream movement direction of the water flow is responsible for filling up the entire major Reservoir for futures storage (Poloczanska et al. 2013).

Effects of Climate Change on agriculture

Due to the shortage of rainfall which is expected by the year of 2030, the rate of water inflow will go down significantly due to crises of freshwater. One of the major this that are associated with this process is due to the fact that low rate of water flow can increase the risk of fungal growth within the water pipeline,  thereby increasing the risk of water contamination and spreading of various water borne diseases. The salinity level of the water is also expected to go up due to the fact that there is a crisis of fresh water. Due to the decrease level of water flow, the overall amount of storage of fresh water in the Reservoir is expected to go down by almost 20% in the year 2050 (Green et al., 2017).

Proper contingency measures are also taken due to the fact that it is important to make plans according to the situations that help to deal with the cases related to the water crisis. The water conservation program initiated from the Australian authority of Water Department is one of the significant steps that are implemented due to the facts related to the future water crisis situations (Amelung and Nicholls 2014).

The small scale agricultural farms in the areas of Sydney and other parts of New South Wales are entirely dependent upon the inflow of water from the reservoirs. Nevertheless, due to irregular water distribution flow the small scale farmers are highly affected. There is also a chance of decline of seasonal crops, due to irregular pattern of with exchange that include longer duration of summer and low level of chilling weather during the winter (Parker et al. 2017).

It is essential for the farmers of all scales to have proper skill training development program by the year 2030, which will be a major part of the adoption planning program that can be developed by the government. This can help them to take proper action plan in order to reduce the severity of water shortage effect in agricultural farms (Alston 2017).

Increase population within the city of Sydney is mainly caused due to the fact of Refugee movements. It can be said that increase level of population, there is a significant pressure upon the natural resources in the areas of Sydney, which in turn is responsible for excessive secretion of greenhouse gases. The change in the climatic pattern can give rise to several contaminated disease among the local population is Sydney. The shortage of water supply can also give rise to various water borne diseases among the local population (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014).

Effect of climate change on the society

The housing pattern in the city also has to be modified in future, which is needed to deal with the natural calamities including storms and flood. The adaptation taken planning in the construction work is essential in this context to deal with the upcoming effects of the climate and weather change (Stocker 2014).

Conclusion

In the conclusion note it can be said that Sydney being one of the most populated cities of Australia and in global scale, it is one of the worst affected cities in the world due to the Consequences of climate change. The report has described about the effect of climate change upon the geography of the local region. This can affect the local water supply and agricultural process along with the lifestyle of normal people due to the fact that there will be increased risk of various diseases.

With the help of proper Action Plan for the future and adaptation policies, it is for city of Sydney to minimize the catastrophic effect associated with climate change.

Reference

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Parker, L.M., Scanes, E., O’Connor, W.A., Coleman, R.A., Byrne, M., Pörtner, H.O. and Ross, P.M., 2017. Ocean acidification narrows the acute thermal and salinity tolerance of the Sydney rock oyster Saccostreaglomerata. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 122(1-2), pp.263-271.

Poloczanska, E.S., Brown, C.J., Sydeman, W.J., Kiessling, W., Schoeman, D.S., Moore, P.J., Brander, K., Bruno, J.F., Buckley, L.B., Burrows, M.T. and Duarte, C.M., 2013. Global imprint of climate change on marine life. Nature Climate Change, 3(10), pp.919-925.

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