Miles warns farmers face worst of climate change
QUEENSLAND houses should be built with ground floors ready for floods in a future where climate change will bring more severe storms.
And homeowners who embrace weather- resilient designs should get cheaper insurance.
Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles has released the first two of the state’s climate adaptation plans for the built environment and infrastructure and agriculture industry.
Dr Miles said that farmers would be among the hardest hit by the changing climate, and Queensland would probably have to turn to different crops or genetic modification to continue to produce enough food in changing seasons.
“In some cases, we may need to get our scientists working on new hybrids, new species, that can adapt, that can better tolerate different levels of heat,” he said.
But town planners and developers were also being warned their designs would need to change as days became hotter, storms more severe and flooding more common.
Queensland Climate Adaptation Strategy partners group chairman Mark Gibbs said continuing to rebuild wrecked communities did not make sense and moving from flood- prone areas was a drastic solution.
He said infrastructure could protect coastal communities, but lessons should be learnt from low- lying areas such as Miami, in the US.
“The simple things people can do, they can put all the airconditioning systems, the electrics, take them out of the basement and put them up into the upper level,” he said.
Dr Miles said it was unlikely government would offer grants to change building designs.