Australian farmer Wayne Dunford walks through his failed barley in Parkes, New South Wales. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty ImagesAustralia
May, 2007
(Reuters) - Drought-hit Australia may offer a warning of how climate change threatens core human needs, as the continent's food bowl faces the prospect of having irrigation cut off, Britain's climate change ambassador said.
Canberra has said it will halt irrigation to an area that usually grows over a third of the country's farm produce, if heavy rain does not fall in the next few weeks.
"If that happens, that is not just an economic blow to Australia, it will do significant damage beyond Australia because of its effect on world food prices," John Ashton told Reuters during a visit to the Chinese capital.
"That is a current threat which almost certainly, or at least very probably, arises from human-induced climate change."
Australia faced an "unprecedentedly dangerous" drought, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said last week. Parts of the country have been stricken for a decade.
Canberra has said it will halt irrigation to an area that usually grows over a third of the country's farm produce, if heavy rain does not fall in the next few weeks.
"If that happens, that is not just an economic blow to Australia, it will do significant damage beyond Australia because of its effect on world food prices," John Ashton told Reuters during a visit to the Chinese capital.
"That is a current threat which almost certainly, or at least very probably, arises from human-induced climate change."
Australia faced an "unprecedentedly dangerous" drought, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said last week. Parts of the country have been stricken for a decade.
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Nov, 2006
Depleted reservoirs, failed crops and arid farmland spark global warming tussle
VIDEO PRESENTATION:
As scientists and politicians quarrel at a week-long UN climate change conference in Bangkok, people on the ground are already dealing with the effects of global warming. In Australia, there's no end in sight to a six-year-old drought that has devastated farmlands and drinking water reserves in some of the country's greenest regions. It is the worst drought in 100 years. So it comes as no surprise that the global warming debate is becoming one of the hottest issues in what has long been called �??the sunburnt country. A voiced report.
