Coastal Buildings And Infrastructure: An Increasingly Risky Business

On 26 October 2009, the bipartisan House Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts (Committee) presented its report on the inquiry into climate change and environmental impacts on coastal communities –"Managing our Coastal Zone in a Changing Climate: the Time to Act is Now". There are a number of findings and recommendations in the Committee's report that indicate that development and re-development of coastal buildings and infrastructure will become more risky and expensive. We discuss a number of these findings and recommendations below.

Impact of sea level rise on coastal areas

The Committee's report notes that the impact of climate change on the coastal zone –particularly, sea level rise –will affect most Australians because 80% of the population lives along the coast and approximately 711,000 addresses are within 3km of the coast and less than 6m above sea level. The report also refers to the threat that sea level rise and coastal