Climate Change Impacts on Australian Rangelands

In the context of climate change, Australia has significant vulnerability to changes in temperature and rainfall, as reported by the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment report. The changes will mostly affect the agriculture and natural resources sector. Climate change will also affect existing pastoral management challenges like declines in pasture productivity, reduced forage quality, livestock heat stress, greater problems with some pests and weeds, more frequent droughts, more intense rainfall events, and many others. There will also be temperature increases in Australia, where the greatest warming is expected in the interior of the continent, particularly towards the northwest of the country.