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Adaptation to global warming on Australia

Introduction[edit]

Climate change is being recognized as one of the largest global crises. This is precisely the same time, and virtually the same moment, when the world becomes urban. This is because urbanization brings irreversible changes in our patterns of production and consumption. How to plan, manage and live in our cities, largely determines the progress of global warming^[1].

According to some experts, nearly three quarters of global energy consumption occurred in cities, while emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming come from urban areas^[2]. . Nearly one third of these emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels used by urban transport and another third comes from the energy used to heat and cool our buildings and run our appliances. The other third comes from the industrial sector. These are the footprints of our built environment and the consequences in the quest for quality of life in urban areas.

The main emitters of greenhouse gases are the industries of construction and metallurgical industry, transportation, real estate and agriculture being the direct sources of global emissions of greenhouse gases in cities, vehicle use, industrial uses of fossil fuels and the burning of biomass. Sources include indirect use of electricity consumption for street lighting, transport, industry, trade and consumption in cooking, lighting, heating and cooling of the housing. If the policies of OECD countries, specifically Australia and U.S., but also China and India remain unchanged, CO ² (which represent 72% of the emissions of greenhouse gases) in 2020 will increase by one third in place have been reduced by 5% as was approved in the Kyoto protocol.

Global warming will make the cities at risk. With the current trajectory of climate change world population are entering an era of growing urban vulnerability. The accelerated pace of urbanization with a growing segment of population in cities also significantly increased the vulnerability of urban areas in natural hazards and humanly constructed. Each time will become increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is humanly constructed and what is natural because both risks are overlapping. The frequency and intensity of disasters will grow very rapidly in the world. The risks are particularly severe in some regions of Australia.

Trouble and the emphasize five challenge

1. Sea level rise According to various projections, it is expected that sea level rise between 20 and 90 cms. during the 21 century, partly due to the mass loss of glaciers and ice caps. 2. Floods and mudslides The increase in the intensity, scale and frequency of rainfall is caused periodic flooding in low areas and regions, as well as mudslides in geologically unstable areas, usually identified with the location of illegal settlements more vulnerable. The areas built near rivers or in areas won in river beds will be subject to additional flooding.

3. Quality and reduction of water Flooding of urban areas tend to affect water treatment plants, wells, latrines and septic tanks. The water treatment systems and garbage will also be affected, in turn contaminate drinking water resources. Where there is a decrease of rainfall, droughts undertake the level of abstraction of water and supply drinking water to urban areas, accordingly. 4. Warming, cold waves and droughts Urban systems are severely affected by intense episodes of thermal variability, such as hot and cold waves that impose extra energy consumption for the use of air conditioners and heaters, as well as the disruption of the daily life of urban activities. 5. Hazards to health The socio-economic impacts of climate change in urban areas include increasing effects of urban heat islands, an increase in pollutants, ozone additional training, especially during the warm seasons, and investment thermal stations during winter, causing an increase in levels of morbidity and mortality.

Mitigation Mitigation focuses initial appearance and current problem of global warming. Includes any measure that would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The adaptation, by contrast, is the approach that focuses on the current part of the problem: the attempt to live with the changes in the environment and the economy that global warming has generated and will continue to generate.

1. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases Emissions of greenhouse gases emanating from urban areas can be mitigated through four types of actions:

 	 1.1. Urban Density

Demand for energy in buildings of high level is lower than that of suburban housing families. Infrastructure costs, emissions are lower if the costs are lower consumption of land, transport and transfer times. The number of people with cars is much lower than in the suburbs, where public transport is benefited by serious investments. The expansive urban growth should be avoided and discouraged at all costs.

       1.2. Construction and energy efficiency

The operation and maintenance of residential buildings and offices are responsible for 38% of CO. Much of this figure comes from the air conditioning. It is therefore necessary to reduce energy needs for heating, lighting and cooling of buildings, but also increase efficiency in the use of technologies to build and own cycle construction.

       1.3. Administration of transport demand

The vigorous promotion of mass transportation systems, pedestrian areas, non-motorized transport and use of more efficient cars in relation to fuel and fuel more friendly to the environment can drastically reduce the total volume of CO ²

       1.4 Production of cleaner energy

The shift from coal to natural gas in power plants, promoting the use of clean energy sources to replace fossil energy, and combined heat and electricity represent significant opportunities. Adaptation Although national governments and local authorities are taking stringent mitigation measures, the need for adaptation is in the advance of climate change because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for decades and is stored in the oceans heat for centuries. No matter how much humanity cut emissions of greenhouse gases from now, our emissions keep previous global warming for decades. Therefore, cities must also strengthen their resistance against climate impact that our past emissions have launched. The determinants of adaptive capacity include the availability of financial resources, technology, specialized institutions and human resources, as well as access to information and existence of laws, social and organizational; goods that are usually scarce in developing countries and small cities. In cities with proven vulnerability to climate change, investment is likely to require a "hardening" of urban infrastructure, including systems storm wells, water supply and treatment plants and protection or relocation of facilities solid waste management, power generation and distribution systems.

Coastal regions are likely to need large investment in physical infrastructure projects, specifically related to sea level rise, as the construction of protective barriers against the rising sea and dams, redesign and development of port facilities and improvement of systems defense of coastal areas and flood.

Another adaptation measure would be the construction of new cities in soils high, leaving completely vulnerable floodplains. This withdrawal will take place probably managed over time, and this would require a combination of market incentives such as the differential cost of insurance and re-insurance and investment planning and public sector.

To internalize the limitations of climate change requires proper planning for land use and building codes. The land use planning should channel new residential developments and productive investment towards areas less vulnerable. The inhabitants of slums and informal should receive assistance to regularize their properties and thus enable low-income groups to buy, build or rent homes in secure locations.

As a basis for planning, local authorities need reliable and understandable assessment of the risks of cities above, the dissemination of such information, establishing early warning systems and evacuation plans, including warning systems for emergencies, response and improved urban environmental management.

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[2] [ http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0725-earthwatch.html]

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