Climate Change | Reforestation

Climate change is a global issue that affects us all. The Earth's climate varies naturally but today climate change refers to changes caused by human activities.

The climate change story begins with an understanding of how the atmosphere works to regulate the temperature of the planet. As a natural part of our atmosphere, 'greenhouse gases' absorb and re-radiate sunlight warming the surface and thereby maintaining the Earth's temperature at a level necessary to support life.

However, since the Industrial Revolution there has been a steep rise in the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere because of human activity.

This increased concentration is known as the enhanced greenhouse effect, which is contributing to a warming of the Earth's surface, or global warming.

Global warming in turn alters weather patterns, producing climate change. As the Earth warms, heat-waves become more frequent, patterns of rainfall change leading to changes in droughts, floods, storms and bushfires. In many places these extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent, more widespread or more intense.

Greenhouse gases are produced by human activity, including:

• burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas;
• using energy generated by burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas);
• some aspects of farming, such as raising cattle and sheep, using fertilisers and growing some crops;
• clearing land, including logging;
• breakdown of food and plant wastes and sewerage; and
• some industrial processes, such as making cement and aluminium.

Reforestation plays a key role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use the carbon contained within the carbon dioxide to form their tissue. In this way carbon is transferred from the atmosphere and stored in vegetation.

Download the Department of Climate Change's FAQ for further information.