- Warning: Northern Australia will be uninhabitable
- Residents will only be able to survive six hours outdoors
Northern Australia will be “uninhabitable” in the coming decades because the heat and humidity will be so intense it will be deadly for humans, experts have warned.
They say deadly heat will begin to emerge at certain times of the year, making it impossible for humans to be outdoors for more than six hours.
Climate scientist Bill Hare said areas such as Broome and Katherine, as well as parts of Asia and Africa, would soon be uninhabitable if temperatures rose by just 1.5C.
“You couldn’t enjoy Cable Beach for much of the year,” he said.
‘We are already seeing small periods of deadly heat in South Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia, where there have already been reports of mortality.
Northern Australia will be “uninhabitable” in the coming decades because the heat and humidity will be so intense it will be deadly for humans, experts have warned (file image)
They say deadly heat will begin to emerge at certain times of the year, making it impossible for humans to be outdoors for more than six hours (file image)
“We are already reaching the limit of human habitability.”
Hare is executive director and senior scientist at Climate Analytics, a global climate science and policy institute that supports climate action aligned with the 1.5°C warming limit.
In 2003, a study published in the scientific journal Comptes Rendus Biologies found that more than 70,000 people died in Europe from the deadly heat.
It was the hottest summer recorded in Europe since 1540, leading to drought, food shortages and the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
Hare said that for cities like Perth, which is currently experiencing its longest period of dry heat and no rain, scientists did not expect to see a lethal combination of humidity and heat in the next 25 years, but northern parts of Australia did. they would do.
He said some areas of the Kimberley region had already felt small bursts of deadly heat, killing livestock and native animals.
“It will happen slowly and gradually, the weather will become really extreme and it will get worse and worse,” Mr Hare said.
“There is only one way to limit this damage, but it will not be eliminated; people will have to adapt to it.”
Hare said that for cities like Perth, which is currently experiencing its longest period of dry heat and no rain, scientists did not expect to see a lethal combination of humidity and heat in the next 25 years, but northern parts of Australia did.
Climate scientist Bill Hare said northern parts of Australia would experience deadly heat in the coming decades, making areas like Broome uninhabitable at certain times of the year.
Hare said carbon emissions needed to be reduced by 50 per cent in the next decade and Australia needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“In the last 10 years, the largest increase in carbon dioxide and global warming came from fossil fuel emissions,” he said.
‘Coal is being phased out and the same should apply to gas: it should already be phasing out.
‘The federal government needs to stop supporting gas and fully accelerate support for renewable energy.
“They talk about Australia being a green energy superpower, but they also don’t address the changing energy market.”
A spokesman for Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the government had introduced policies over the past 22 months that would put Australia on track to meet the 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030.
This year’s federal budget allocated $22.7 billion to build industries in Australia such as green hydrogen, critical minerals and solar manufacturing that would support decarbonisation here and around the world, the spokesperson said.
