The effects of climate change

Climate change has an impact not only on our immediate weather, but also on ocean currents and temperatures. Ocean activity then affects the weather so a potentially ‘vicious cycle’ of change occurs.

Research to date suggests that climate change can:

• increase the incidence of violent weather like tornados and typhoons
• contribute to extreme weather conditions like floods and drought
• melt parts of the polar ice caps reducing water temperatures and raising sea levels. This would have a major impact on coastal communities
• increase the amount of salt in rivers and streams due to evaporation. This would affect wildlife, agriculture and the availability of drinking water
• change what crops can be grown in an area and in some cases, whether any crops can be grown at all
• damage or even destroy iconic habitats like The Great Barrier Reef.