Nick Bryant | Sydney | Jan 31

BBC - A report on the effects of climate change in Australia paints an alarming picture of life in the city of Sydney.

It warns that if residents do not cut water consumption by more than 50% over the next 20 years, the city will become unsustainable.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation report also warns that temperatures could rise 5C above the predicted global average.

This would leave the city facing an almost permanent state of drought.

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It warns of severe droughts nine out of every 10 years, a dramatic rise in the number of bush fires, and freak storm surges which could devastate the coastline.

Scientists predict that rainfall will fall by 40% by 2070, not only creating a massive water crisis, but producing double the number of bush fires.

Heat-related deaths would soar from a current average of 176 a year to 1,300.

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Along with America, Australia has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the only two major industrialised nations to do so.

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Frightening reality we face

The Daily Telegraph, Exclusive by Simon Benson, Jan 31

SYDNEY is looming as one of the world's major climate change casualties, with temperatures expected to soar 50 per cent higher than the average rise forecast for the entire planet.

For the first time, Australian scientists have charted in detail the impacts on the nation's largest metropolis of man's insatiable demand for energy and burning of fossil fuels.

The Daily Telegraph today exclusively reveals the landmark CSIRO report commissioned by the State Government which - for the first time - specifically details the impact of climate change on NSW.

It paints a picture of a city baking under average temperatures almost 5C higher than now - which will kill 1300 people a year - and one battered by extreme winds and permanent drought.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the report's findings were alarming.

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Australian climate report sees soaring temperatures

By Meraiah Foley, Jan 31

SYDNEY (AP) — Average temperatures in Sydney will rise by about 5 degrees during the next 65 years, with devastating consequences including 1,300 more heat-related deaths per year, according to a government study released Wednesday.

With Australia gripped by its worst drought on record, the issue of climate change has emerged as a battleground in this year's national elections.

Prime Minister John Howard has come under renewed criticism for not ratifying the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, making Australia the only major industrial nation other than the U.S. to reject the treaty that mandates lower emissions of global-warming greenhouse gases.

Mr. Howard did not comment on the study, which was commissioned by New South Wales, the state that includes Sydney, Australia's largest city.

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As a major exporter and consumer of carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels, Australia rates as one of the world's worst greenhouse gas producers per capita.

Mr. Howard says the Kyoto Protocol's steep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions would hurt Australia's economy by handing a competitive advantage to China and India, which are not bound by the treaty.

Australian power companies issued a report Wednesday that said expanding the use of nuclear power and retrofitting coal-fired power stations to capture carbon dioxide is the best way to slow greenhouse emissions. Howard said he agreed with that recommendation.

“The answer is a greater emphasis on clean coal and nuclear power,” Mr. Howard told reporters. “It's just simply not feasible to run power stations in this country on solar and wind energy.”