John Howard Plays Down Climate/Drought Link As Study Shows High Fire Risk Days Up 300% By 2050 - AFP

[hatrack]

Prime Minister John Howard warned against linking Australia's worst drought on record to doomsday forecasts about climate change Wednesday, saying "a sense of proportion" was needed. A day after announcing a major aid package for drought-hit farmers, Howard played down the link between climate change and the "Big Dry."

"Even the most pessimistic predictions about climate change, which I don't necessarily share... don't say that it will never rain again in rural Australia," Howard told Channel Nine television. "We've just got to keep a sense of proportion."

EDIT

Australian bushfires will become more intense due to climate change, while the number of days each year when there is a high fire danger could soar 300 percent by 2050, a report released Wednesday said. The study, prepared by government scientists and the weather bureau for the independent Climate Institute, noted that bushfires are an inevitable feature of the Australian landscape.

But it warned they had already become more fierce in recent years, with fire weather intensity rising 10 to 40 percent since the 1980s and 90s. The report predicts that the intensity of bushfires in Australia will jump by up to 30 percent by 2050 under the worst global warming scenarios.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australian_PM_downplays_link_between_drought_climate_change_999.html

[rodeodance]

1. Howie---you are sticking with Bush and YOU are going DOWN