Programme for the National People's Assembly 29-30 August 2008
Download the official programme

Visit the website of the first Australian Consensus Conference on Gene Technology in the Food Chain

Read the International Federation of Red Cross - World Disasters Report 2001

Read Garnaut's speech on climate change at CEDA conference

Read an article by senior NASA scientist on catastrophic sea-level rise

Visit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) website

Coastal cities, towns, food and water supplies are all at risk.

Scientists predict that 145 million people - mostly in the Asia-Pacific region - will be displaced if seas rise by 1 metre. Some scientists think that a 5 metre sea level rise within this century is possible.
 
This is not an abstract concept. This is a reality and it will affect your local community. Australians love living near the coast so we are very exposed.

Sea level rise will hit our region hard. Low-lying Pacific Islands may gradually disappear. Large populations closely packed together on or near the coast in cities such as Dhaka, Shanghai, Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai and Bangkok will be displaced. Some of the major river deltas in Vietnam, China, Thailand and the Philippines are at risk.
 
First melting glaciers will cause more flooding, then reduced water flows will make land much less productive. There will be conflicts across river borders as water flows shift.

How Green Cross Australia is responding

In August 2008, Green Cross Australia hosted the world’s largest democracy deliberation about the topic of how Australia should respond to the humanitarian challenges of sea level rise in the Asia Pacific. A group of ordinary Australian citizens considered expert advice from leading business, community, academic and government agencies and made powerful, common sense recommendations about what should be done.

Green Cross has evaluated the arguments and evidence pertaining to the scientific, insurance, business, humanitarian, security and law reform dimensions to this problem.

Based on this evaluation and drawing on the direct recommendations of the lay panel of citizens who considered the weight of experts involved in our deliberation, Green Cross Australia has developed an action plan which will deliver critical tangible outcomes which will help Australia to prepare.

We welcome partners who would like to join our journey.