Law and Management

Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities

National Conference on the Socio-Economic Implications of Climate Change on Regional Communities

4 - 5 September 2006
Bendigo - Australia

Statements on Climate Change

2005- the hottest year on record for Australia

On 4 January the Bureau of Meteorology announced that 2005 was officially the warmest year on record for Australia. Data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology indicate that the nation's annual mean temperature for 2005 was 1.09°C above the standard 1961-90 average, making it the warmest year since reliable, widespread temperature observations became available in 1910. According to the Bureau,while these temperature departures may seem relatively small, a 1°C increase in mean temperatures is equivalent to many southern Australian towns shifting northward by about 100km. The Bureau also noted that many of Australia's warmest years on record (such as 1988, 1998 and 2002) had temperatures boosted by significant El Niño events. However, no such event occurred in 2005, making the record warmth even more unusual. This led the Bureau to conclude -  "The 2005 record is yet another sign that our climate is changing. Since 1979, all but four years have been warmer than average in Australia".

2005 - the hottest year on record for the Northern Hemisphere - 2nd hottest globally

According to research from the UK Met Office and the University of East Anglia this year has been the warmest on record in the Northern Hemisphere. Ocean temperatures recorded in the Northern Hemisphere Atlantic Ocean have also been the hottest on record. Dr David Viner, one of the researchers involved in the study, from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia was emphatic about the role of greenhouse gases, telling the BBC News Website "It's simple physics; more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, emissions growing on a global basis, and consequently increasing temperatures. We're right, the sceptics are wrong".

The World Meteorological Organisation also released its statement on the status of the global climate for 2005. The global mean surface temperature in 2005 is currently estimated to be +0.48o C above the 1961-1990 annual average. At the time of the statement on 15 December 2005 was the second warmest year on record, but official figures for the entire year will not be released until February. Its statement also noted that the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season brought an unprecedented 26 named tropical storms and Hurricane Wilma was the most intense Atlantic Hurricane ever recorded. Closer to home tropical cyclone Ingrid, which lasted from 5 to 16 March, was the first cyclone recorded to reach intensity of Category 5 off three different Australian states (Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia).

2005 - the costliest for extreme weather

The world has suffered more than 200 billion dollars in economic losses as a result of weather-related natural disasters over the past year, making 2005 the costliest year on record, according to preliminary estimates released by the Munich Re Foundation (a part of large reinsurer Munich Re) at the international climate conference in Montreal. It said most losses resulted from the unprecedented number and intensity of hurricanes in 2005. Wilma, the strongest-ever hurricane, according to records dating back to 1850, caused an estimated $15 billion (US) dollars in economic losses, while damages caused by Katrina, the sixth strongest hurricane on record, came to more than $125 billion (US). "There is a powerful indication from these figures that we are moving from predictions of the likely impacts of climate change to proof that it is already fully underway," said Thomas Loster, the Foundation's director.