Conservationists say the Federal Government would be foolish to play down a leaked report which predicts significant increases in extreme weather in Australia.
The ABC's 7:30 Report has obtained documents from the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change which predict more droughts, fires, floods and storms.
The report says temperatures will rise by 6.7 degrees by 2080 and almost all of the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from coral bleaching.
The Federal Goverment says there is nothing new in the report, with Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying the information has already been published elsewhere.
"The CSIRO has been writing about this for years so I'm glad that you think it's a revelation, I'm sorry to say that it isn't, it isn't, there's nothing new in that," he told the ABC's Lateline.
The Australian Conservation Foundation's (ACF) Don Henry says the report has not been exaggerated.
"They actually give a probability band for this science so it's very cautious, very carefully done," he said.
"We'd be extremely foolish if we didn't take heed of this." ----------------------------------------------------
If this leaked report is true, and I don't think it is, then it's already too late to bother trying to stop it happening and we are in for very rapid and dramatic changes. But if you are one of the climate change faithfull then start panicing. Dave R.
