“Where regions become warmer or wetter this may allow for increased agricultural output – while others may be harmful,”

Eric Worrall reports:

A new government report is creating shock in the Australian climate fraternity, with its almost blasphemous suggestion, that in some respects, the current global temperature might not be the ultimate climatic optimum we all thought it was.

According to The Age, a major Aussie daily newspaper;

“Climate change could have economic spin-offs, a new government report says. The Intergenerational Report released on Thursday includes a chapter on “managing the environment”, which has been a feature of previous versions of the five-yearly economic and budget update. The report sets out the government’s plan to reduce carbon pollution through its $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund. But it also says “some economic effects may be beneficial”. “Where regions become warmer or wetter this may allow for increased agricultural output – while others may be harmful,” the report said. “For example, lower rainfall may reduce crop yields, or transport infrastructure (such as roads, ports and rail networks) may become more susceptible to damage from extreme weather events.””

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/intergenerational-report-finds-climate-change-benefits/story-e6frg90f-1227249323766

The full report is here, if you enjoy that kind of thing. http://treasury.gov.au/PublicationsAndMedia/Publications/2015/2015-Intergenerational-Report

I have noticed personally, that in the tropical climate where I live, staple vegetables such as tomatoes, zucchini (courgettes), egg plant, capsicum (peppers), even carrots and chives, seem to grow a lot more vigorously, and produce much higher yields, than when the same vegetables are grown in cooler climates. Obviously my simple empirical observations should be discarded, in favour of climate model predictions, which suggest that if global temperature rises by a few degrees, we’re all going to starve.

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