THE future for Bundaberg’s coast is grim unless action is taken on global warning, according to a major new report from the Climate Council.

According to the report Counting The Costs: Climate Change And Coastal Flooding, Sydney, Bundaberg and Hobart would experience today’s one-in-100-year flooding event every day or so by the end of this century if global warning continues.

“For a sea-level rise of only 0.5m, flood events that today might be expected once every hundred years could occur every few months in the future,” the report says.

The report says a rise in sea level would be driven by the melting of ice in the Artica and Antarctic, and the fact that warm water takes up more space than cooler water.

Bundaberg Deputy Mayor and Local Disaster Management Committee deputy chairman David Batt said the Climate Council report referred to coastal, rather than riverine flooding.

“As such, the implications of coastal flooding due to sea level rises over 80-100 years are for coastal communities,” he said.

“The risk that climate change-induced sea level rises has to all coastal communities, not just in Queensland, but Australia and around the world is something that has considerable scientific consensus.”

Cr Batt said climate change had implications across an array of disciplines, from town planning to disaster management.

“Local governments like Bundaberg Regional Council have to work carefully with the State Government on matters of long-term planning land use planning: the policy and ideology of this and future governments will be a factor in how communities adapt to climate change,” he said.