A senior Australian climate scientist has described as ‘encouraging’ the response of governments and authorities to climate change by lifting their focus beyond economics to plan a future for communities which face change.

Research manager of the Indian Ocean Climate Initiative from 1998-2005, Dr Bryson Bates, said today some climate change over the next few decades was inevitable.

Dr Bates said concentrated wet and dry periods would occur in future climate as part of natural variations in the cycle.

“Change has occurred in the past and is evident now in Australia but it is better not to select one future and hope it comes to pass, or find the most probable future and adapt to that.

“Australians need to be mindful that variability in climate will be superimposed on continued warming and changes in rainfall intensity.

“We cannot afford to wait for full scientific certainty about climate change because that may never come, or simply come too late and we must take a balance of evidence approach,” Dr Bates said.

Dr Bates, the Director of CSIRO’s Climate Program and a Lead Author for a Chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s next report due in 2007, was speaking at a summary workshop for the Indian Ocean Climate Initiative in Perth.

He said the Western Australian Government was to be commended on its approach and strategic investment in understanding the climatic changes occurring in South West Western Australia.

Dr Bates said the nation’s infrastructure was designed on the assumption that meteorological records captured all the climate information over the course of its economic life.

“We are now acutely aware that this is not the case and that we will need to adapt to change as well as moving towards mitigation of its impacts. Developing policies and plans that are robust across a range of plausible futures will improve environment, food and water security.

“We need to find fair and cost-effective measures to minimise adverse impacts and maximise benefits, understanding that the impacts of climate change extend far beyond just economic theory and into the web of Australian community life,” Dr Bates said.

Original press release: Climate change focus goes beyond economics (CSIRO)