Australia should prepare for 'megadroughts' lasting 20 years, shows study

Australia should prepare itself for "megadroughts" lasting for over 20 years due to human-induced global heating, a new research from the Australian National University showed.

According to a report in the Guardian, megadroughts are prolonged periods of below average rainfall that last decades. The university said that droughts spanning more than two decades have occurred in Australia over the past millennia and reoccur every 150 to 1,000 years, depending on the modelling used. The study showed that megadroughts of 20 years or more were “a natural feature of the Australian hydroclimate”. 

Dr Georgy Falster, who led the research, said that a megadrought has not yet been officially recorded because Australia’s observational rainfall records have been kept for only about 120 years. “If they happen every 150 years, we are due for one very soon. Or we might not see one in our lifetimes,” Falster said.

Georgy Falster said that the modelling highlights the need to prepare for future megadroughts. “Forewarned is forearmed. We now know that these megadroughts are a possibility which means we can be prepared for them. Even if the chance of a megadrought happening is lower... the potential consequences if we’re not prepared are so big that we need to prepare," Georgy Falster said. 

Australia needed to "implement robust water management plans, support measures for drought-prone rural communities and introduce environmental protection plans to mitigate the severe affects of a megadrought", she said.

According to the Guardian report, Australia has had four major droughts since the country started keeping official rainfall records in the beginning of the 20th century. 

Georgy Falster said that a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions remains the key solution to mitigating the severity of future droughts.

The Australian government is currently working on a national climate change adaption plan and risk assessment. A spokesperson for the federal environment department said, "Australia needs to be better prepared for and better manage increasing risks from climate change."

Jenny McAllister, assistant minister for climate change, said that the Australian government would “do everything we can to reduce our emissions”.

“However, we must also take steps to protect Australia’s economy, society and natural environment from the changes scientists tell are already locked in,” McAllister said.