Mapping the effects of extreme weather in our region

SBS Australia

2 days ago

Sixteen experts from across different areas of expertise contributed to the report, titled State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific, produced by the World Meteorological Organisation, or WMO. The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for sharing knowledge internationally on the status of the Earth's atmosphere and its interaction with oceans, lands and climate. This report specifically looks at weather events in our region and the impact of these events on public health, ecosystems and economies. One of the key findings in the report was that in 2024, ocean warming in the South-West Pacific had reached unprecedented levels. Ben Churchill is the Director of the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific at the WMO. "Average for the region as a whole, sea surface temperatures reached record highs in 2024 by a substantial margin, and part of that is the result of the El Nino event finished in 2024. But a large part of it relates to the background warming trend, which over the last 40 years is in the order of 0.13 of the degree per decade. We see some areas are particularly strong warming in the region, particularly in the parts of the southern Tasman sea off the east coast of Australia and in areas of the South Pacific of New Zealand. But most of the region has seen warming sea surface temperatures except for some parts of the far east of the region." The last year also saw extreme rainfall and subsequent flooding, impacting Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The report says that a significant proportion of the population of Pacific Islands live close to the coast, making any rise in sea-levels a particular threat to these communities. Extreme heat also affected large parts of the region in 2024 with the record breaking temperatures causing the rapid loss of glacier ice in the region. Ben Churchill is the Director of the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific at the WMO. "In Indonesia glacier ice loss continued rapidly in 2024. We've seen declines of 30 to 50 per cent since 2022. In 2024, ocean warming in the southwest Pacific reached unprecedented levels. Sea level rise continues and across the region exceeded the global average and especially threatening low lying Pacific Islands. And noting here that half the population in this region live within 500 meters of the coast. So putting them at a greater level of risk, widespread extreme rainfall and flooding caused deadly and destructive impacts in Australia, New Zealand, and also countries in the Pacific and also in Southeast Asia." How well-prepared has Australia and other countries in the region been in anticipating and mitigating these events? The report says the Philippines saw 12 storms between September-November 2024. Ben Churchill says that country's early warning systems allowed communities to better prepare and respond to the storms. "We are also part of a major United Nations initiative, early warnings for all in partnership with the United Nations office, disaster risk reduction, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. And the key message here is that strengthened early warning systems and its reaction in the Philippines as was outlined by Blair, actually enabled communities to prepare and respond to this unprecedented number of tropical cyclones and storms which help to protect lives and ensure dignified timely support." A 2024 State of the Climate report found Australia's climate has warmed by an average of 1.5C since national records began in 1902. University of Melbourne Emeritus Professor David Karoly is also a councillor with the Climate Institute. He says Australia saw record high temperatures in 2024 and the early part of 2025, with global average temperatures also higher than average. "They've contributed to record high amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere and obviously higher amounts of water vapor lead to extreme rainfall amounts and that's what the ocean temperatures, the high ocean temperatures have led to record flooding cases like in Taree in New South Wales in the May period. But equally, we've also had some extreme weather events like Tropical Cyclone Alfred that tracked from the Coral Sea region towards the southeast Queensland coast." Professor Karol says this led to very high rainfall amounts in southeast Queensland as well as the northeast New South Wales region. That led to massive erosion of beaches in Queensland, particularly the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, and the northern parts of New South Wales. As far as how prepared Australia is to deal with these challenges, Professor Karol says the Albanese government has been preparing a national climate risk assessment.
"It was due out before the federal election in 2025, but its release was delayed for reasons why it was delayed, you'd have to ask the Albanese government. The suggestion is that it was too scary and therefore they decided not to release it before the election. But there's also a national climate adaptation plan that was due out at as soon as possible after that national climate risk assessment was released. And that has also not been released yet. And that was the plans for adapting to these sorts of increasing extreme weather events in Australia and planning for those."