2.4.1

Supporting climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience

Climate-induced natural hazards are already locked in to some extent. It follows that climate adaptation and resilience remain necessary, alongside efforts at prevention.

The Indo-Pacific is, in many ways, the ground zero of climate change.

Rising sea levels are expected to inundate many coastal areas, leading to forced displacement and the salinification of farmland. In Bangladesh, over 13 million people will be displaced by a one-metre sea-level rise.

For low-lying Pacific states, the issue of displacement is compounded by the question of their territorial existence. Kiribati, for instance, may be fully submerged by the close of the century.

All the while, climate change will present us with a perverse irony: just as melting ice caps generate a rise in sea levels, melting glaciers will reduce the availability of freshwater, especially in Asia. The Tibetan glaciers that feed the Indus, Brahmaputra, and Mekong rivers are receding aggressively, with dangerous implications for the water security of roughly two billion people downstream.

Lower average rainfall will compound the effect on water scarcity, with the consequence that food insecurity, principally by way of agricultural drought, will become commonplace throughout much of the globe.

Alternative food sources will also be put under stress, as global heating hastens ocean acidification and therewith the depletion of fish stocks.

And to compound the longer-term degradation of ecosystem services, extreme weather events will increase in both frequency and severity. In our region, especially, typhoons and tsunamis will endanger lives and destroy infrastructure on a more regular and intense basis.

In the face of these looming challenges, it is critical that the world works to urgently reduce emissions. Doing so will forestall the most significant of these expected effects.

Still, climate-induced natural hazards are already locked in to some extent. It follows that climate adaptation and resilience remain necessary, alongside efforts at prevention. Promoting climate adaption and resilience is also a vital insurance policy against a slow or disorderly energy transition. The latter remains possible, even if Australia and its regional partners make every effort to do their part.

In that vein, Australia will work to promote climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience in the following ways:

Promote disaster-resilient infrastructure. As Australia moves to develop and implement disaster-resilient infrastructure standards and construction codes at home, we will work to share best-practice with our partners in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Additionally, we will devote a greater share of our regional aid towards the development of climate-resilient infrastructure projects.

Partner on developing drought and flooding-resistant crops. Australia will look to foster R&D collaboration between the CSIRO and its regional counterparts, including universities, on climate-resilient agriculture. Further, we will ensure that the Intellectual Property arrangements of our R&D partnership prioritise inclusive access over commercialisation.

Channel greater development assistance towards nature-based mitigation strategies. Particularly for the Pacific, mangroves provide a vital, natural bulwark against coastal erosion, flooding, storm surges, and tsunamis. Australia will therefore increase funding and on-the-ground support for programs aiming to restore mangrove coverage, or develop other nature-based mitigations.

Create a climate visa scheme. Climate-induced displacement will become a rising challenge across the wider region. It will put significant stress on the cities or neighbouring countries to which people are forced to flee. To help ease that burden, and mitigate risks of social and political instability, Australia will establish a permanent-residency visa category for citizens of Pacific nations displaced by climate change. At the same time, we will advocate that other developed countries adopt a similar scheme, so that climate refugees across the wider region have equivalent opportunities for just resettlement.

Promote water security via effective water governance. Australia will work with partners across the region to diffuse best-practice in water management, including on issues of marine pollution. We will also continue to support our neighbours' efforts to develop inclusive and accountable water governance structures. A specific priority in that regard will be to scale up Australia's contributions under DFAT's Greater Mekong Water Resources Program.

Scale up micro-finance support for communities affected by adverse climate events. As droughts, floods, and storms wreak havoc on regional food systems, subsistence livelihoods will become increasingly precarious. Further, for the many regional states that rely heavily on the agricultural economy, such disruptions are likely to be a significant driver of social instability. Australia will therefore look to develop agile micro-finance mechanisms that help precarious communities weather short-term, climate-related disruptions to their incomes.

Develop a strategic food reserve. Australia will develop a strategic reserve of Australian-grown staple crops, such as wheat and rice, that can be distributed quickly and at scale to neighbours facing agricultural disruption or significant food-price inflation. A potential model for building up the reserve is one whereby the Government purchases excess Australian agricultural output in times of surplus production. That would have the added benefit of stabilising prices for Australian farmers in conditions of oversupply.

Promote regional cooperation on the management of fish stocks. Climate change and commercial overfishing are seeing a drastic decline of fish stocks, in turn putting pressure on the food security of communities—particularly in the Pacific—that depend on these resources. Australia will therefore act as a flag bearer for regional cooperation on the sustainable and equitable management of fish stocks.