Climate change and other threats in the Australian Alps

Abstract

The importance of protected areas will increase with the impact of climate change, with climate change adversely effecting natural ecosystems in Australia and globally. Unfortunately, climate change is also likely to show negative synergies with many existing threats to protected areas. For the Australian Alps National Parks, that conserves most of mainland Australia's snow country, predicted increases in temperatures and changes in precipitation will result in a dramatic loss of snow cover. These changes will increase existing threats associated with loss of biodiversity, intensive fires, diversity and abundance of feral animals and plants, human demands on ecosystem services, and tourism uses. By recognising the range of possible negative synergies, managers in these and other protected areas will be able to prioritize control and amelioration measures. They will also need to reduce their own contribution to greenhouse gas production, and assist in increasing the publics' awareness of just how great the threats are from climatic change.