Australia could return to what it was millions of years ago - a cluster of islands covering a gigantic area. The continent is very flat. Mountains only occur on the east coast. With rising sea level, first to go will be the large cities on the coast. These are the major population centers.
After this, an inland sea will form. There is no doubt that the Poles are melting. This water has to go somewhere. The population will fall by 80 per cent. Even if many flee inland, there are no water and food resources there to feed everyone, unless of course Aboriginal culture still remains. Most Aboriginals today are urbanized and have lost much of the their culture.
This will not be a solely Australian problem. Most major cities in the world are on the coast, growing from estuaries where a large river flows into the sea.
On the Gold Coast, high rise building are only meters from an unpredictable sea. After storms, councils are called upon to repair the damage with money they don't have. In a short time these buildings will have to be abandoned as councils condemn them as being too dangerous to live in.
There is no immediate worry because the rise in ocean level will be steady. This will give people time to move out. There will be great financial loss to the nation though. Natural disasters just consume GDP. Nothing is produced from them. In fact resources are drawn away from productive projects.
Environment by Ty Buchanan
