s***@neuf.fr
2007-05-03 06:15:55 UTC
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/4/26/144553/433
Australia's 'food bowl' running dry
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is in a sticky, yet dry,
situation.
Even though a drought has caused Australia's agricultural production
to fall 25 percent in the last year, Howard may have to ban irrigation
so that urban centers can have drinking water.
The targeted river basin, the Murray-Darling, is known as Australia's
"food bowl" because it houses 72 percent of Australia's farm and
pasture land. If insufficient rain continues through the next few
weeks, this year's harvest will be devastated and cities will need to
implement water usage restrictions.
Prime Minister Howard doesn't accept the connection to global warming,
but scientists and farmers disagree, saying "this drought has the
fingerprints of climate change all over it." In climate models,
Australia is predicted to be one of the first areas seriously
impacted.
Australia is accustomed to drought, but not of this proportion. During
the last major drought, agricultural production fell 10 percent, not
nearly one quarter. The Prime Minister's struggle to manage water
resources is a testament to just how unprepared for climate change's
impacts even developed countries are.
There is no use denying climate change anymore, not when a drought is
sucking three-quarters to one percent of the GDP dry. According to Sir
Nicholas Stern's report, that could be the GDP it takes to prevent
future damage by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Without any sort of adaptation or mitigation policy, our future is
beginning to dry up.
Australia's 'food bowl' running dry
Australian Prime Minister John Howard is in a sticky, yet dry,
situation.
Even though a drought has caused Australia's agricultural production
to fall 25 percent in the last year, Howard may have to ban irrigation
so that urban centers can have drinking water.
The targeted river basin, the Murray-Darling, is known as Australia's
"food bowl" because it houses 72 percent of Australia's farm and
pasture land. If insufficient rain continues through the next few
weeks, this year's harvest will be devastated and cities will need to
implement water usage restrictions.
Prime Minister Howard doesn't accept the connection to global warming,
but scientists and farmers disagree, saying "this drought has the
fingerprints of climate change all over it." In climate models,
Australia is predicted to be one of the first areas seriously
impacted.
Australia is accustomed to drought, but not of this proportion. During
the last major drought, agricultural production fell 10 percent, not
nearly one quarter. The Prime Minister's struggle to manage water
resources is a testament to just how unprepared for climate change's
impacts even developed countries are.
There is no use denying climate change anymore, not when a drought is
sucking three-quarters to one percent of the GDP dry. According to Sir
Nicholas Stern's report, that could be the GDP it takes to prevent
future damage by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Without any sort of adaptation or mitigation policy, our future is
beginning to dry up.