Under current modelling the Gloucester NSW area will be affected, but a combination of climatic and topographic effects predicts that this area will be relatively advantaged with more storm-delivered rainfall.

Storm clouds over Gloucester 2006.

While the rest of NSW was in severe drought Gloucester, although affected, still received sufficient rain to keep rivers flowing and allow productive growing

Water

Energy

Fuel

Food

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Gloucester and Climate Change
There is no longer any doubt that the world's climate is changing. Thousands of measurements show that average temperatures are rising, ice is melting, oceans are warming and major weather events are increasing. The rising temperature causes changes in movement of our atmosphere and oceans. This in turn changes many of the conditions around which our weather, rural practices, lifestyles, health systems etc, have been operating. The most recent predictions for Australia tell us that we will have more severe and frequent droughts. Major food producing areas, especially those depending on irrigation are already threatened.

Our local prediction, supported by experience over the last couple of years is that although we will have less snow feeding our rivers, we will get more storms. Thus if we adjust to the changes we will continue to be able to produce food products.

The Gloucester Project places emphasis on our area attracting research and development funding so that not only will our community survive economically, we will significantly contribute to our nation's food and water supply.

Already the news is referring to "FOOD CRISIS", "FUEL CRISIS", "ENERGY CRISIS". The Gloucester Project looks at all these related issues and proposes measures for our special area. We are paying more for food and fuel. Electricity prices are about to rise. We have a capacity as a community to take steps to adjust to all these impacts.

Rural areas have to know about temperatures, water supply, seasonal variations and market conditions if they are to maintain the productivity of their food producing areas.

Some of our citizens still don't believe that the climate is changing. Others try to persuade us not to insure against the risks. In some cases, these views are genuinely held. It is also known that some large enterprises fear that the changes will cause them to lose their economic advantages. We cannot become victims of such narrow interests. Governments and large industries throughout the world are taking this situation seriously. For instance Lloyds Insurance's risk report is a clear indication of how influential corporations view climate change effects.

The Gloucester Project offers a plan for our economic and lifestyle future which responds to our climate and other advantages. We will seek research and financial support which climate change measures make available to help us.

CO2 Levels 1850-2005

The following images and text are from: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/sci_nat_how_the_world_is_changing/html/1.stm

1. Introduction: While the effect of human activity on the global climate is debated, physical signs of environmental change are all around us.Some scientists say an increase in the rate of melting of the world's glaciers is evidence of global warming. Argentina's Upsala Glacier was once the biggest in South America, but it is now disappearing at a rate of 200 metres per year.Other scientists say its reduction is due to complicated shifts in glacial dynamics and local geology.

2.Glacial change: American photographer Gary Braasch has been documenting images of environmental change since 1999. The image below is from an 1859 etching of the Rhone glacier in Valais, Switzerland, and shows ice filling the valley.In 2001, the glacier had shrunk by some 2.5km, and its 'snout' had shifted about 450 metres higher up.Image: Gary Braasch ©

3.Rising tides: Scientists predict that a warmer climate will trigger more violent storms, which will cause increased rates of coastal erosion.The section of shoreline at Cape Hatteras in North Carolina is in the USA, pictured in 1999 and 2004. The southern United States and Caribbean region were battered by a series of powerful hurricanes last year. Rising sea levels are also expected to speed up coastal erosion. Image: Gary Braasch ©

4. Vanishing islands: Other parts of the world could face even more drastic change.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a consortium of several thousand independent scientists, predicts that sea levels could rise by between 9 and 88cm in the next century.This would threaten low-lying islands such as Tuvalu in the Pacific. These images, taken this year, show the effects of a higher than usual tides: Gary Braasch ©

5. No snow:As the climate warms up, mountainous regions may experience lower levels of snowfall. This image shows Mount Hood in Oregon at the same time in late summer in 1985 and 2002. Image: Gary Braasch ©

6.More pests:Tree-eating wood beetles are likely to benefit from a warmer climate and reproduce in ever-increasing numbers.The images show damage to White Spruce trees in Alaska caused by the pests.