The ACT government has launched a new prong in its drive to lead the nation on the environment, aiming to shield the city from the impact of climate change.
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The government is working with climate scientists to come up with the first regional climate prediction of what global warming will bring to the area in temperature, rainfall and wind – with numbers to be released later in the year.
Climate scientists expect more bushfires, droughts, extreme rainfall and extreme heat in Canberra as global temperatures increase, and Environment Minister Simon Corbell said on Wednesday the changes would affect people in very direct ways.
Heat stress would cause more deaths than bushfires, and more frequent heatwaves would hit the young, elderly and vulnerable. Higher temperatures, stronger winds and a drier climate meant more bushfires and extreme events.
Water supplies would come under increased pressure with higher temperatures, faster evaporation and lower average rainfall. Agriculture and the natural environment also faced challenges, with the ability of plants, animals and micro-organisms to survive climate change more limited than for people.
More effort might be needed to link the city's fragmented natural spaces so species could link and move as they adapted, he said.
He said he would seek funds from the Commonwealth's emission reduction fund to expand the city's forests; planting more trees and replacing those that had been lost.
Housing and building design needed to change to reduce reliance on heating and airconditioning.
Mr Corbell said climate change was an unprecedented challenge and the city must adapt to cope.
The chairwoman of the ACT Climate Change Council, Professor Barbara Norman, welcomed the courage and national leadership shown by the ACT government, which she said would stand the city apart from other jurisdictions.
"A government where we don't have to debate the issue of climate change, but we can immediately get on the front foot and start acting on the problem, is a refreshing change," she said.
While the government's target of zero emissions by 2060 might be a "stretch", the city was on track.
At the launch of his policy on adapting to climate change, Mr Corbell faced questions from community groups about how his vision for a sustainable city sat with the infilling of green space around the city and the proliferation of small housing blocks with no backyard.
