Australian Drought a Natural Cycle
Precious Water Diverted from Households to Uneconomic Agriculture
Apr 19, 2008
Australia is experiencing an extended period of dryness but scientists such as Barrie Hunt from CSIRO believe it is part of a natural process, and not due to greenhouse emissions.
Research findings undermine a recent claim by politicians that this drought is a one-in-a-thousand year event brought about by climate change. In addition, according to The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, mathematics proves that long-run climate predictions are not possible. This renders media hysteria imagining the drought is here to stay, to look rather ridiculous.
Australia Prone to Dry Periods
Australia is a huge land mass that has always been prone to long periods of dryness because of its geography – due to a subtropical high pressure belt. Simply put, droughts are part of a natural variability of the Australian climate and results in most of the country having low and erratic rainfall. Recent rainfall decline could even be partly attributed to mechanisms occuring in the ozone depletion layer above Australia.
Major Australian Droughts
Historically, Australia has seen major droughts due to the current interglacial period, and this is superimposed by short cycles that last for 1-7 years:
- The “Federation drought”, 1895-1902
- The 1914-15 drought
- The World War II droughts, 1937-45
- The 1965-68 drought
- Short but sharp 1982-83 drought
- The long El Niño, 1991-1995
- The current drought, 2002-
Each episode is accompanied by the so-called El Niño effects, which are caused by irregular warming of water currents. At this time, there is nothing unusual about the duration of the current cycle but a drought map reveals isolated pockets of lowest readings from a limited historical record.
Occurence and Threats
Droughts account for less than 10 per cent of all global disaster occurrences, but they account for nearly 40 per cent of all people affected by natural disasters. Prolonged droughts cause extreme water shortage and increased bushfire risk. They threaten people's livelihoods, wildlife, and also the economy due to reduced agricultural activity.
Water Diverted to Uneconomic Agriculture
Australian households have been asked to believe that the current drought is more severe than usual and they should carry extra burden, when in fact, the culprit is agriculture which is "drinking Australia dry". Water diverted to agriculture has recently been increased some twenty times that consumed by households. This precious water supply is used to support politically sensitive industries, not to grow the country's food supply. For example:
- the sugar industry uses vast amounts of water but the industry is uneconomic
- the Murray River is "dying" through upstream irrigation that removes most of its water. This practice is allowed so that Australia can export rice from the Murray region.
To help ease the water burden on households, farmers should reduce growing cotton, rice, and sugar, which together account for more than one-third of the country's agricultural water usage. Instead they should concentrate on growing cereal crops, fruit and vegetables, and livestock.
Conclusion
The Australian drought is considered by scientists to be a natural phenomenon and not caused by so-called climate change. Long periods of dryness are a historical, recurring, natural part of the Australian climate. Households currently are asked to be frugal with water but most are not aware that water is diverted to support agricultural industries that are uneconomic and pollitically sensitive, such as sugar, rice and cotton.
