A new report by Australia’s top scientists forecasts that the country will need to brace for a doubling of droughts and a 10-fold increase in heat waves due to climate change. The report shows that the nation’s rainfall has been declining since the 1950s and that regions of the country affected by heat waves could climb from 5 percent each year to 95 percent. These findings are echoed by those of Professor Ross Garnaut, who has warned that Australia needs to urgently implement policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2010 or witness the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, the wetlands of Kakadu and Murray-Darling, the nation’s agricultural basin.

Our gratitude all esteemed scientists for this information about climate change impacts to our Australian brethren. May we all join together to quickly halt the devastating effects of warming around our globe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/07/climatechange.drought