{"id":233464,"date":"2025-10-22T21:47:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233464\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:47:20","slug":"how-a-climate-adaptation-shortfall-is-being-felt-in-northern-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/233464\/","title":{"rendered":"How a climate adaptation ‘shortfall’ is being felt in northern Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Talk to anyone who has lived north of Australia’s 26th parallel and it will not be long until the conversation turns to the heat.<\/p>\n

Karratha residents at an early October park run in WA’s north west were jogging in 30-degree heat by 8am.<\/p>\n

At the height of summer, the heat will be much worse. The Pilbara city hit 48.4C in 2022.<\/p>\n

Some, like new-arrivals Sam Scott and Charlie Gilbert, have started making adjustments.<\/p>\n

“This guy [Charlie] actually had to shave his head because he wasn’t dealing with the heat,” Mr Scott said.<\/p>\n

But there is only so much climate adaptation individuals can do.<\/p>\n

“Look around, there’s no trees or shade anywhere, so you can’t avoid the sun,” Mr Gilbert said.<\/p>\n

“Which is not good for people of my skin complexion.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Some Karratha residents say a lack of shade is making it harder to cope with hot weather. (ABC News: Kimberley Putland)<\/p>\n

Adaptation ‘shortfall’<\/p>\n

Climate scientists have for years been urging communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change by cooling down the built environment.<\/p>\n

But Australia’s first Climate Risk Assessment<\/a> found there was “an adaptation action shortfall” across every jurisdiction and geography.<\/p>\n

Neither the City of Karratha, nor the other three local governments in the wider Pilbara region, could provide a specific climate adaptation plan when asked by the ABC.<\/p>\n

It was a contrast to other parts of the country, including in Western Sydney<\/a>, where a collective of local councils have been working to increase the amount of shade and green-spaces within the city’s notoriously hot concrete suburbs.<\/p>\n

\"Greenery<\/p>\n

Cumberland Council and Western Sydney University are putting together a “cool car park”. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)<\/p>\n

Extreme weather complicates adaptation<\/p>\n

The extremes that define life in northern Australia are making climate adaptation more difficult.<\/p>\n

The most common strategies to reduce urban heat centre on “green” and “blue” spaces.<\/p>\n

Plants, trees and water bodies serve as natural “heat sinks”, removing heat from the environment, instead of amplifying it like common building materials such as concrete, steel and glass.<\/p>\n

But both green and blue spaces require lots of water, which in semi-desert regions such as the Pilbara, is scarce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Further north in tropical Darwin, the city’s tree population is still recovering from a 2018 cyclone.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Nick Fewster says the city’s tree canopy is still recovering from a 2018 cyclone. (ABC News: Michael Donnelly)<\/p>\n

“We were at around 35, 36 per cent [canopy cover] and it went down to 24 per cent,” City of Darwin Environment Services executive manager Nick Fewster said.<\/p>\n

“Our greening strategy [is now] about putting trees in the right places and cooling and greening Darwin.”<\/p>\n

UNSW architecture professor Matthaios Santamouris urged local governments to focus on climate mitigation strategies tailored to their specific climates.<\/p>\n

“I consider that you know evaporation and water misting is not really the best technology for [arid] areas,” Dr Santamouris said.<\/p>\n

In 2019, he published a study simulating different heat mitigation techniques in Alice Springs \u2014 an arid climate similar to Karratha.<\/p>\n

It found that strategic shading and using cool reflective building materials were the most effective ways to reduce the city’s ambient heat.<\/p>\n

“We tested these materials on the roof of low-income houses for First Nations people in the area,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The use of these materials decreases the peak temperature indoors by 10 degrees.”<\/p>\n

Karratha mayor Dan Scott attributed the city’s lack of shade to historical planning decisions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dan Scott says climate change is a threat to the city’s future growth. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

“We used to design and construct and fund a playground, and then subsequently we’d go ‘oh we might put some shade on there later,'” Mr Scott said.<\/p>\n

“From now on every sort of public infrastructure project that we deliver that is outside, we ensure that it’s budgeted to include shade.”<\/p>\n

Mr Scott said rising temperatures threatened the city’s future.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Shade is precious in Karratha. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

“People come up here because there’s lots of work \u2026 but we do have limiting factors like the heat,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You need to create that amenity and liveability for people if you want to sustain the growth rate of these regional cities like Karratha, Port Hedland and Darwin.”<\/p>\n

Adaptation tipped to save lives<\/p>\n

Climate projections for northern Australia make for frightening reading.<\/p>\n

The WA government predicts the Pilbara town of Marble Bar will experience 122 days above 40 degrees by 2030, and that is assuming there is “strong global action” to reduce carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

[\"Photo<\/p>\n

Temperatures commonly exceed 40 degrees in the remote town of Marble Bar. (ABC News: Charlie McLean)<\/p>\n

Heat-related deaths in Darwin are tipped to rise by 110 per cent by 2050 under a 1.5 degree warming scenario.<\/p>\n

“The cost [of rising temperatures] for society is extremely high,” Dr Santamouris said.<\/p>\n

“Suicide rates increase very much during periods of high temperatures.<\/p>\n

“[And] students when exposed to high temperatures exhibit an important decrease in their cognitive performance.”<\/p>\n

But Dr Santamouris said the most important heat mitigation strategies were cheap and easily implemented.<\/p>\n

“We have the technology to do it, we know how to do it, and we’ve done it in several parts of the world,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So we have the potential to improve the quality of life for people immediately, and with very low cost. In my opinion, this is the number one priority.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talk to anyone who has lived north of Australia’s 26th parallel and it will not be long until…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,24119,68,140173,140172,89086,75,112284,140170,124674,140171,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-233464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-climate-adaptation","11":"tag-climate-change","12":"tag-climate-mitigation","13":"tag-climate-risk-assessment","14":"tag-climate-scientist","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-green-spaces","17":"tag-heat-adaptation","18":"tag-northern-wa","19":"tag-regional-liveability","20":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}