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I think it might have been when I first started this blog I started to do studies about the affect on the whole world's grain reserves. The world went from 130% of what people needed on earth to 100% or less of what the world needed during the Australian droughts where many Australian farmers committed suicide. You might ask"What's wrong with having 100% of the world's needs?
The answer to this is there is always spoilage and transportation costs often makes people unable to be able to buy food, especially in 3rd world countries. As a result up to 10 million people on average starve to death on earth every single year. However, I'm not sure the reserves have ever built up to 130% like they were before Australia entered this drought which devastated the world stocks of grains at that time. Another outcome is food has been increasingly expensive all over the world since then too. (which is another outcome of losing that 30% cushion of world grains.
Drought in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_Australia - Similarto Drought in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia1829 Major drought in Western Australia with very little water available. 1835 and 1838 Sydney and ..... "Australian food statistics 2011–12" (PDF). Canberra: ...
Rainfall deficiencies in 2006
As of November 2006, the late-winter to mid-spring rainfalls had failed. The average rainfall in the state of South Australia was the lowest since 1900. Across Victoria and the Murray-Darling Basin the season was the second driest since 1900. New South Wales' rainfall was boosted by above normal falls along the north coast of the state, however the state average rainfall for the season is the third driest since 1900. The situation has been worsened by temperatures being the highest on record since the 1950s.[23][24]
Responses during 2006 and 2007
The drought changed the way Australia treats its water resources. Because of the long-term effects of the drought now showing, many state governments are attempting to "drought-proof" their states with more permanent solutions.
Australia in the past hundred years has relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and consumption.[citation needed] Now schemes like grey-water water-recycling, government rebates for home-owners to install water tanks, and tougher restrictions on industries have come into effect.
The citizens of Toowoomba voted on, and rejected, a referendum on using recycled sewerage water. However, after the referendum Toowoomba began using recycled sewerage water as no other feasible alternative was available.[citation needed] Brisbane is set to be supplied via larger dams, a pipeline and possibly also recycling. A desalination project has been initiated on the Gold Coast, Queensland, but plans for a similar project in Sydney were halted after public opposition and the discovery of underground aquifers. In November 2006 Perth completed a seawater desalination plant that will supply the city with 17% of its needs.[25] Likewise, the Victorian Government is also in the process of building one of the world's largest desalination plants. When complete, it will be capable of producing up to a third of Melbourne's water needs.[26]
Dairy producers have been hit particularly hard by the drought that has swept much of Australia. And 2004 was a particularly bleak year in the sector, as a drought-caused drop in production sent revenue in the industry down by 5.6%.[27]
Most Australian mainland capital cities are facing a major water crisis with less than 50% of water storages remaining. For example, Melbourne has had rain up to 90% below the average for September and October 2006, compounding the problem of extremely low rainfall from the preceding winter months.[citation needed] Melbourne has been experiencing high temperatures throughout October causing the evaporation of water in dams and reservoirs, which has resulted in their levels falling by around 0.1% a day. As a result of all these factors Melbourne is now on tighter water restrictions and as of July 2009, water levels in its dams are at a mere 27% of capacity.[28]
Agricultural production has been affected. Australia's cotton production has dropped, with the smallest area planted in 20 years, a 66% reduction compared to five years ago (considered a "normal" year). The crop has been half its usual size for three of the past five years. Water use by the industry fell by 37% between 2000/01 and 2004/05, due mainly to drought.[29] In the order of 20 cotton communities and 10,000 people directly employed by the cotton industry are impacted by the drought. The main areas affected are in New South Wales: Menindee where the area under production has reduced by 100%, Bourke has reduced the area under production by 99%, Walgett has reduced the area under production by 95%, the Macquarie River has reduced the area under production by 74% and the Gwydir River has reduced the area under production by 60%. In Queensland the worse affected areas are Biloela which has reduced the area under production by 100%, at Dirranbandi there has been a 91% reduction, Central Highlands has reduced the area under production by 82% and Darling Downs has reduced the area under production by 78%. Bourke has only had adequate water for one cotton crop in the last five years.[30]
Stock feed is also becoming scarce and farmers are finding it difficult to feed cattle and sheep.[citation needed]
Predictions and observations for 2007−08
Dry paddocks in the Riverina region during the 2007 drought
In early 2007, senior weather forecasters predicted that the drought would ease along the east coast with a return to average rainfall from late February 2007. Forecasters believed that the El Niño effect that had been rampant during 2006 and 2007 had ended.[31] Heavy rainfall in June and July, particularly in coastal regions of New South Wales and in Victoria's Gippsland region, together with tentative forecasts of a La Niña event, brought hope that the drought may have ended.[32]Cattle on a sand island in the Murrumbidgee River which is normally underwater but due to low rainfall in the catchment during 2008 has meant water releases from the dams have been reduced.
The Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, announced on 19 April 2007 that unless there was substantial rain in the next six weeks no water would be allocated to irrigators in the Murray-Darling basin for the coming year. The result of this would have directly affected the 50,000 farmers and the economy.[33] Electricity shortages may also have occurred if the Snowy Mountains Scheme had been forced to shut down its hydroelectric generators.[34]
However, in August 2007, the Darling River flowed again after nearly a year of no flows.[35] Inflows into the Murray-Darling Basin in the winter of 2007 were amongst the lowest on record though marginally better than those of the winter of 2006 which had been the driest on record.
The drought in Sydney eased around April 2008, when Sydney's main water catchments reached 65 percent, 25 per cent fuller than it was at the same time the previous year.[36] [37]
However Victoria remained drought affected, with Melbourne's water supplies dipping to around 30% by July 2008.[38]
In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole Murray-Darling basin if it did not receive sufficient water by October of that year.[39]
In Tasmania drought conditions worsened in 2008, with many areas reporting no significant rainfall for three years.[40]
Continuation into 2009–10
2009
Drought conditions in South East Australia continued, after one of the driest summers for the region. Melbourne had Stage 3a water restrictions from 1 April 2007, and narrowly avoided Stage 4 restrictions, with the minimum storage level of around 25.8% [41] remaining above the threshold of 25% for enacting Stage 4. Many towns in Victoria were close to running out of water, with some of the few Victorian towns without water restrictions being in the East Gippsland water area, where reservoir levels were above 80%.
2010
The 2010 Victorian storms in March did little to help Melbourne's storage levels, but steady winter rains, and the 2010 Victorian floods in September, caused storage levels to remain above about 32.7%,[42] rising to over 46% in September and 51% by late November.This section does not follow Wikipedia's guidelines on the use of different tenses. (December 2012)
2010 saw Australia officially record its wettest spring on record due to a moderate to strong La Nina which developed over the region. Water restrictions were reduced to stage 3 on 2 April, and stage 2 on 1 September.[43] 2010 also saw Melbourne reach average annual rainfall for the first time since 1996,[44] and its wettest spring since 1993.[45]
The drought in Queensland eased, Brisbane recorded very heavy rain in May 2009, and premier Anna Bligh announced that South East Queensland was no longer experiencing drought.[46] Brisbane's dams reached full capacity with the state in general experiencing its wettest spring on record. Widespread flooding occurred in eastern Australia throughout December and January.[47]
The drought in New South Wales also eased. In the beginning of 2010 the percentage of the state in drought was pushing 70%, and as of December 2010, the entire state was officially out of drought, with the entire state recording its wettest spring on record. Several rivers, including rivers in the outback had flooded several times, and many dams overflowed, including the Burrendong, Burrinjuck and Pindari Dams. Canberra's dams rose above 90%.
Despite Western Australia having experienced its fifth wettest spring on record, the South West, Gascoyne and Pilbara regions of Western Australia's drought intensified, with the region experiencing its driest year on records. Perth's dams registered its lowest inflows on record, with the city itself experiencing one of its driest years on record, along with the hottest spring on record.[48][49]
December 2010 was also the second wettest December on record for Australia.[47]
End declared in 2012
On 27 April 2012, Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig stated that the two final areas in Australia receiving Federal "exceptional circumstances" drought support, Bundarra and Eurobodalla in New South Wales, would cease being eligible the following week.[50] The Federal Government had provided $4.5 billion in drought assistance since 2001.[51] The related move to end the exceptional circumstances interest rate subsidy program was criticised as premature by the NSW Farmers Federation and National Farmers' Federation.[50]
2013-2014
During 2013 serious rainfall deficiencies, heralding drought conditions, again began to develop and be sustained in mid-2013 through much of western Queensland.[52] Although these began easing for western Queensland in early 2014, drought began to develop further east, along the coastal fringe and into the ranges of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.[53]
Drought and population levels in Australia
The Australian environmental movement organisation, Sustainable Population Australia, have contended that as the driest inhabited continent, Australia cannot continue to sustain its current rate of population growth without becoming overpopulated. SPA also argues that climate change will lead to a deterioration of natural ecosystems through increased temperatures, less rainfall in the southern part of the continent, thus reducing its capacity to sustain a large population even further.[54] In response to this, there are several movements and campaigns around the country which are advocating for environmental action.
The UK-based Population Matters, (formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust), supports the view that Australia is overpopulated, and believes that to maintain the current standard of living in Australia, the optimum population is 10 million (rather than the present 20.86 million), or 21 million with a reduced standard of living.[55]
Other estimates for Australian population carrying capacity put the maximum capacity at much higher levels. Based on available agricultural land 154 million has been suggested. A more conservative estimate of 84 million based on Australia achieving a similar population level to usable arable land of the USA.[56] Similarly based on the amount of food exported from Australia, approximately double the population could be sustained (around 45 million).[57] While water utilisation has often been cited as a limiting factor, experience has shown that water efficiency can be increased dramatically by even moderate incentives, water restrictions/limitations, and pricing pressures, with 35% decrease in water usage per person in Sydney over the last 10 years and roughly 50% over the last 30.[58]
See also
- Climate change in Australia
- Deserts of Australia
- Extreme weather
- Federation Drought
- List of reservoirs and dams in Australia
- Peak water
- Water restrictions in Australia
References
- Hasham, Nicole (21 February 2013). "Water wise, dollar dumb". The Sydney Morning Herald.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Drought in Australia. |
The Bureau of Meteorology has declared that the El Nino which has made the drought so much worse for the past year or so has passed. A senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Grant Beard, says it's time to be optimistic about drought-breaking rains, although the drought is far from over yet.
The Prime Minister said yesterday that unless there is substantial rain within a month, there would be no water allocations for irrigation or environmental flows from 2 July. "We should all pray for rain," he said.
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