Climate change and heatwaves in Melbourne - a Review

Abstract: The impacts of Climate change are now being felt at a regional level in cities like Melbourne. The impact of rising temperatures and increasing frequency, duration and intensity of hotspells and heatwaves on Melbourne and its urban heat island poses challenges in how to respond and adapt. There are multiple risks to human health, maintaining urban infrastructure and urban biodiversity. Countering heatwaves and climate change is a major social and political challenge and will require both rapid mitigation of carbon emissions for the long term and widespread adoption of urban climate adaptation strategies and behaviour at personal, business and government levels.

John Englart 10 February 2015.
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DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3050.7688

This article started during my single subject study in Academic Research at NMIT (now Melbourne Polytechnic) during Semester 1 of 2014. The focus was selected in negotiation with my lecturer. A slightly abbreviated version was handed in as my major assessment for the subject. The other two assessments of the subject were an annotated bibliography and a formal classroom presentation, which was also published at slideshare. I received a high distinction for the subject overall.

This literature review is structured in two parts: the first on Melbourne temperature and heatwave impacts from climate change, and the second on risk management, mitigation and adaptation to rising temperatures, heatwaves, and the urban heat island effect in Melbourne.

I thought limiting my focus to one climate impact - temperature and heatwaves - and one location - Melbourne - would narrow the field substantially, but as I dug deeper and read more widely I found a wealth of relevant literature either relevant to heatwave impact or directly to my regional focus. The bulk of the references are peer reviewed academic studies, but some are academic working papers and presentations, reports to Government, and news articles including several by myself published on this blog, Sustainable Fawkner or Climate Action Moreland.

Contents

• 1. Rising temperatures Heatwaves and their impact
• Urban Heat Island effect and heatwaves
• Heatwave impact on Human Health
• Rising summer night temperatures increasing risk
• Heart disease and heatwaves
• Lower socio-economic groups more vulnerable
• Those suffering Mental Health at greater risk
• Childhood Asthma made worse
• Increase in Foodborne disease
• Association with Urban Suicide
• Cost estimates of Victorian bushfire and heatwave mortality
• Heatwave impact on Infrastructure
• Heatwave impact on biodiversity and ecosystems
• 2. Countering the threat of Heatwaves and climate change in Melbourne
• Heatwave Management
• Mitigation
• Adaptation
• Personal measures
• Increase Urban surface albedo (reflectivity)
• Air-conditioning
• Urban Forests
• Water Sensitive Urban Design
• Urban Food Security and building community resilience
• Mode shift to Public Transport, walking and cycling
• 3. Conclusion
• References

Annotated Bibliography - Climate Change, Heat waves and Melbourne (2015)

I started working on this annotated bibliography in February 2014. 10 articles of this annotated bibliography were prepared for my Literature Review on Heatwaves climate Change and Melbourne as part of my subject on Academic Research in Semester 1 of 2014 (TER103) at NMIT (now Melbourne Polytechnic).

The subject focus, negotiated with my lecturer, highlights the impact of increasing temperature and heatwaves due to climate change and the urban heat island effect with regard to Melbourne.

Students in my class were expected to write up five peer reviewed articles for their research subject. My goal was always to prepare something much more comprehensive and so I negotiated with my lecturer to use 10 peer reviewed articles from this longer annotated bibliography for my assessment. My project turned out much more involving than even I expected.

These entries comprise peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed academic studies, grey literature, and news reports, and a few specific websites. Some articles definitely went off on a tangent with only a very general focus to the region or topic at hand. While Melbourne was a definite spatial focus, I used research from around Australia and the globe to inform my discussion of temperature related climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation action in Melbourne.

My literature review was structured in two parts: the first on climate impacts and the second on risk management, mitigation and adaptation.

I prepared a presentation to my class and wrote up and published the handout at NMIT in a slightly more polished form (also available here on this blog). The presentation slides were published at slideshare.

John Englart 10 February 2015

The challenge of adapting to climate change and heatwaves in Melbourne

Originally published at Mpress at Melbourne Polytechnic

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II in its latest report – Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability - highlights the growing impact of climate change both globally and regionally. Resolving the climate change issue requires action by individuals, businesses and all levels of Government in Australia and globally.

Professor Glenn Albrecht, Director of the Institute for Social Sustainability at Murdoch University, WA commented on the IPCC report "The messages in the IPCC Working Group 2 Summary for Policymakers are clear, we need to remove the barriers for political change away from fossil fuel dependency. We must make a rapid transition to non-polluting renewable forms of energy. At the same time we need to acknowledge the urgent need to adapt to the changes we have already imposed upon ourselves."

The challenge also involves educating for sustainability, whether in school programs, TAFE or University.

NMIT has been developing a strong focus on sustainability in our education programs, whether in the Diploma of Sustainability, courses in Renewable Energy, Aquaculture and Environmental Management, Horticulture, Conservation and Land Management, the Bachelor of Accounting course with a strong focus on environmental accounting, or more traditional trade courses in building and engineering design.  The Green Skills Centre of Excellence on Epping Campus, completed in 2010, provides facilities for teaching many of our practical skill-based courses with a sustainability component.

Liberal Arts courses also offer the opportunity to discuss and research the challenges of climate change. NMIT website administrator and Tertiary Studies student and blogger John Englart made a presentation and handout to his Academic Research class in March 2014 that outlines some of the recent science and the many challenges we face in Melbourne with heatwaves and climate change. The views expressed in this article are his own, and do not necessarily reflect endorsement by NMIT.