Fingal facing watery grave

Kevin O'Brien doesn't want to see Fingal disappear beneath the ocean.

Crystal Spencer

KEVIN O’Brien believes Fingal is gorgeous and he doesn’t want to see it disappear beneath the ocean.

Speaking to the Tweed Daily News following the release of the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO State of the Climate snapshot, Mr O’Brien said he was aware of changes at Fingal from when he arrived 20 years ago.

According to the report, Australia will have more extremely hot days and it will be drier in the south, but wetter in the north in coming decades.

It also says sea levels in Australia have risen by 1.5mm to 3mm per year on the east coast since1993.

“How you notice it is by the banks. You see now, when you get big seas, the banks just get higher and higher, and higher,” Mr O’Brien said.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong’s Climate change risks to Australia’s coast, released last year, predicted much of Fingal, and other parts of the Tweed, would be underwater in 90 years, with about 2000 current homes lost.

Mr O’Brien, who believes climate change is real, said he had walked the beach on Fingal twice a day for almost 20 years and never got sick of it.

“It is sad to think about it, my grandkids are in the Fingal Rovers nippers and I tell them, one day, while it might not be in their lifetime, they might not be able to come and visit grandpa anymore,” he said.

“It is not only sad for Fingal, it is sad for all the other little islands that could be lost.”

According to the report, it is very likely human activities have caused most of the global warming observed since 1950.

“There is greater than 90 per cent certainty that increases in greenhouse gas emissions have caused most of the global warming since the mid-20th century,” the report says.

Bureau of Meteorology Director Dr Greg Ayers said BOM held one of the best national climate records in the world.

“The Bureau’s been responsible for keeping that record for more than a hundred years and it’s there for anyone and everyone to see, use and analyse.”

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Megan Clark said the Bureau data underpinned a great deal of CSIRO research.

“Understanding options for mitigation and adaptation are important research priorities for us,” Dr Clark said.

She said action could be planned to reduce the impacts of climate change.

CLIMATE SNAPSHOT

• In Australia since 1993, sea levels have risen 7-10mm per year in the north and west, and 1.5-3mm in the south and east since 1993.

• Australian sea surface temperatures have increased by about 0.4°C in the past 50 years.