Climate Change In Queensland

The potential impacts of climate change on Queensland come under three main factors, health, environment and economics. HEALTH Effects such as the Mosquito-borne dengue fever and increasing heatwaves pose a threat to Queensland under the health factor. The future distribution of mosquito’s carrying dengue fever will be determined by climate change, it is expected that the disease will expand further south extending to New South Wales and even the Northern Territory. Climate change will also impact the duration and occurrence of heatwaves and significantly hot days. These hot days contribute to the rising number of heat-related deaths across Queensland. As heat stress is Australia's number one natural killer it is expected to become worse as temperature increases.
Infrastructure and ecosystems will be harmed and there will be a larger risk to people as the cyclones become stronger. This has a flow on effect to the residents as their insurance premiums rise and economically some families cannot afford to insure their homes any longer due to excessively high premiums. Places such as The Great Barrier Reef are prone to the damage of Climate change through the effect of choral bleaching. Choral bleaching reduces choral growth which results in the drastic decline in tourist numbers. The reef is vital to Australia’s tourism and fishing industries, attracting five million visitors to the region in 2008–2009. It contributes $5.4 billion to the Australian economy, and provides more than 50,000 jobs. Statistics from Green Peace – QLD show that since 1980 the ocean temperatures have warmed by 0.45°C this also provides negative environmental impacts such as a reduction of choral growth in large scales. ENVIRONMENTAL Environmental effects of climate change include the increase in temperatures and changes in rainfall. since early last century the average temperature for Queensland has risen by