An assessment of coastal vulnerability for the Australian continent: infrastructure vulnerable to inundation and recession  

Authors / CoAuthors

Hazelwood, M. | Cechet, R.P. | Woolf, M.

Abstract

The impacts of climate change, including sea level rise and the increased frequency of storm surge events, will adversely affect infrastructure in a significant number of Australian coastal communities. In order to quantify this risk, Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, have undertaken a first-pass national assessment which has identified the extent and value of infrastructure that are potentially vulnerable to impacts of climate change. We have utilised the best available national scale information to assess the vulnerability of Australia's coastal zone to the impacts of climate change. In addition to assessing coastal vulnerability assuming the current population, we also examined the changes in exposure under a range of future population scenarios provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Continuation of the current trend for significant development in the coastal zone increases the number and value of residential buildings potentially vulnerable by 2100. We found that over 270,000 residential buildings are potentially vulnerable to the combined impacts of inundation and recession by 2100. This equates to a replacement value of approximately AUD$72 billion. Nearly 250,000 residential buildings were found to be potentially vulnerable to inundation only, which equates to AUD$64 billion. Queensland and New South Wales have the largest vulnerability (considering both value and number of buildings affected). Nationally, approximately 33,000 km of road and 1,500 km of rail infrastructure are potentially at risk by 2100. These results are influencing policy and adaptation planning decisions made by federal, state and local government.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

73656

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Keywords

• External Publication

( Theme )

• risk assessment

( Theme )

• marine

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2012-01-01T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - restricted

Use - license

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Purpose

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unknown

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geoscientificInformation

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Unknown

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Spatial Resolution

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