Australia’s top doctors and scientists are urging the Government to show leadership on climate change after a new report warned human health would feel the most immediate impacts of global warming.
The report from the Australian Academy of Science was endorsed by the Australian Medical Association and highlighted unemployment, population displacement and social inequality as potential impacts to society.
“Whether it be more heatwaves, tropical diseases moving to new areas or lost jobs in farming, fishing and tourism — these are all directly linked to costs for health and mental health,” Academy Fellow Professor Bruce Armstrong said.
“The inequalities that already exist in society are likely to widen, as more advantaged groups are able to adapt better to this different world.”
AMA president Brian Owler said doctors were already seeing the effects of climate change.
“The heatwaves that we’ve experienced, particularly in some of the more southern climates such as Melbourne … we have already seen deaths occurring in our public hospitals from people, particularly those who are vulnerable in our community,” Mr Owler said.
“[That’s] the elderly, the young, those that are sick, those that don’t speak English as their first language.”
The report recommended the creation of a National Food and Water Commission and a National Centre for Disease Control.
“In Oceania we will see rising sea levels and this is going to affect populations and we are starting to see that already,” Mr Owler said.
“As populations start to shift, in history we’ve seen that does change disease patterns but it also creates conflict.
“And those are the sorts of social issues that are going to affect people’s health — they are going to affect people’s mental health and those are the sorts of things we need to be prepared.”
That heavy lifting for national emissions reduction will be done by the Government’s Direct Action policy — effectively paying polluters to reduce emissions and farmers to better manage their land so it absorbs carbon.
Last week it got off to a strong start, purchasing 47 million tonnes of carbon abatement.
However, it spent around a quarter of its $2.55 billion budget, prompting questions over whether it would meet its goal of purchasing 236 million tonnes of carbon abatement by 2020.
The Environment Minister rejected the criticism, saying the 236 million tonne figure was falling — but he would not say by how much.
Internationally, emissions reductions are likely to be agreed upon at the United Nations’ Paris climate summit in December.
The Government was expected to release its targets for post-2020 emissions reduction by the middle of the year.
The Government’s independent Climate Change Authority recommended aggressive cuts to emissions — a 30 per cent reduction by 2025 based on levels from the year 2000.
If accepted by the Government, it would require significant emissions cuts beyond the current 2020 target of 5 per cent by 2020.