An initiative of Swinburne Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University

Research & Evidence Base

Swinburne Institute for Social Research

Australia’s country towns 2050: what will a climate adapted settlement pattern look like?

28 June, 2012
28 June 2012 | This report considers the impact of climate change on Australia’s country towns out to the year 2050 and the capacity of this component of Australia’s settlement system to adapt.

This report is the first output from this project and presents the findings from the initial stages of the investigation. Later reports will present a fuller picture as the outputs of additional stages of analysis are presented.

There is a growing consensus in the community around the certainty of human-induced climate change and its potential to significantly affect our economy, society and culture. The scientific and research community had achieved such consensus many years earlier and it has taken some time to move beyond the construction of a scientific evidence base to support the case for climate change and to move to understand its impacts.

In this context, initiatives such as the extensive program of research funded by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) are critical for preparing Australia for the challenges of the next decades and beyond.