Chapter 1 Introduction

Climate Responsibilities in Australia

Under Section 51(viii) of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution, the responsibility for meteorological observations resides with the Commonwealth Government (Souter, 1988). The Meteorology Act 1906, which was amended in 1955, established the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology and defined its national responsibilities for meteorological (including climate) monitoring, research and service provision in Australia and its territories and for collaboration with the National Meteorological Authorities of other countries. The terms of Australia’s adherence to the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) provide for the Director of Meteorology, as Permanent Representative of Australia with the WMO, to serve as the normal channel of communication between the WMO and Australia and to maintain contact with the competent authorities, governmental or non-governmental, in Australia on matters concerning the WMO. In fulfilment of its national and international responsibilities for climate matters, the Bureau operates the official national climate observing infrastructure and the National Climate Centre (NCC), maintains a program of research into Australian and southern hemisphere climate and provides a range of climate data, monitoring, prediction and advisory services.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has established a number of short and longer term monitoring programs for specific climate-related variables and several Divisional and multi-Divisional research programs addressing various aspects of climate and global change. A major contributor has been CSIRO Atmospheric Research which is involved in a number of areas of climate-related research and monitoring, including the operation, in conjunction with the Bureau of Meteorology, of a national ozone monitoring network and the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (CGBAPS) in Tasmania which forms part of the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW). Between 1969 and 1983 the Bureau and CSIRO jointly operated the Commonwealth (from 1974, Australian Numerical Meteorology) Research Centre which maintained a substantial program of climate research and numerical model development. CSIRO Marine Research has played a key role in developing the Australian monitoring and research effort in respect of the role of the oceans in the overall climate system.

Over the past decade or so, several other Commonwealth and State Government bodies have become substantially involved in various aspects of climate monitoring and research. So too have a number of Australian universities. Increasingly as the impacts of climate in the various sectors of society (agriculture, forestry, water resources, urban design, etc) have become more widely understood, a range of collaborative arrangements for interdisciplinary climate studies has developed involving the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the Universities, several Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) and other governmental and non-governmental organisations.

In 1989, in response to community concerns about the prospect of climate change associated with anthropogenic enhancement of the greenhouse effect, the Commonwealth Government initiated a special greenhouse research program funded through the (now) Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH) to strengthen the core modelling capabilities of the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO. It also established a National Greenhouse Advisory Committee (NGAC) involving both Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO experts to advise on priorities for further research. The development of a national strategy for addressing the greenhouse issue followed considerable Commonwealth, State and Local Government collaboration. The National Greenhouse Steering Committee (NGSC) developed a draft greenhouse response strategy and refined it following a period of public consultation. In December 1992, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed the National Greenhouse Response Strategy which, among other things, established the framework for further Australian action on greenhouse issues (Council of Australian Governments, 1992). In 1994, the Commonwealth Government announced the establishment of the National Greenhouse Advisory Panel (NGAP) foreshadowed in the National Greenhouse Response Strategy. During 1997 and 1998, the latter was comprehensively reviewed and substantially revised, and the new National Greenhouse Strategy (Council of Australian Governments, 1998) was released in November 1998.

In November 1997, the Prime Minister announced a $A180 million package Safeguarding the Future: Australia's Response to Climate Change, aimed at reducing Australia’s greenhouse emissions in line with its commitments under the UNFCCC. An important element of the Prime Minister’s package was the creation of the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) to provide a whole of government approach to greenhouse matters. The AGO is responsible for the coordination of domestic climate change policy and the delivery of Commonwealth programs, and provides a central point of contact for stakeholder groups.

In May 1993, the then Commonwealth Government announced a new National Drought Strategy, developed in consultation with the States and consisting of a series of initiatives designed to help primary producers develop long-term risk management programs based on concepts such as improved understanding of the nature of drought as an inherent feature of Australia’s climate. It is administered through Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – Australia (formerly the Department of Primary Industries and Energy).

Although formal arrangements were set in place in the early 1980s for joint Bureau of Meteorology-Academy of Science sponsorship of an Australian Committee for the World Climate Research Programme (ACWCRP) which served as an effective focus and channel of communication to the international sponsors of the WCRP (Streten, 1982; Brook, 1983; Coughlan, 1987), Australia did not establish a National Climate Program or any other formal national mechanism for overall coordination of climate matters. In line with international arrangements and established national responsibilities, the Bureau of Meteorology has provided necessary coordination of matters related to data, monitoring, applications and services aspects of the WCP and the DEH has coordinated matters relating to environmental aspects of climate impacts.

Following the establishment of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) by ICSU, the Australian Academy of Science established a National Committee for the IGBP (NCIGBP) in 1987. In 1989, by agreement with the Bureau of Meteorology, the Academy’s former National Committee for Atmospheric Sciences absorbed the jointly-sponsored ACWCRP to become the National Committee for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (NCCAS) which subsequently served, on behalf of both the Academy and the Bureau, and from 1993 also the Heads of Commonwealth Marine Agencies (HOMA), as the single national focus for Australian involvement in WCRP activities. In 1996, the national committee structure of the Australian Academy of Science was revised to avoid overlaps of responsibility and duplication of effort. The National Committee for Climate and Global Change (NCCGC) was created to provide a single focus for Australian participation in both the WCRP and IGBP, acting on behalf of the Academy as well as the Bureau of Meteorology and HOMA. Participation in the non-climate-related atmospheric and oceanic sciences was the responsibility of the National Committee for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (NCAOS). In 2001, to streamline the committee structure even further, the NCCGC and the NCAOS were combined to form the National Committee for Climate, Atmospheric and Ocean Research and Global Change (NCCAORGC), recently renamed the National Committee for Earth System Science.

The Australian responsibilities in respect of the activities covered by the WCP and the closely related IGBP and GCOS, and the lines of communication to the international sponsoring bodies, are summarised schematically in Figure 1.11.