Traditional owner says nature long warned of rising sea levels around national park

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Climate change is hitting the Northern Territory harder than most places in Australia. Rising sea levels are changing low-lying coastal wetlands and in the famous Kakadu National Park, it's estimated 80% of freshwater ecosystems will be converted to saltwater by the end of the century.

Transcript

00:00The boat speeds through dense paperbark forest.

00:06Jonathan Nudgee and his three grandchildren carve their way through, over a flooded Owen

00:12Pelly Road.

00:14This is the morning school run.

00:16Three creeks driving across to get to the boat and then we're to get the kids to the

00:21other side to catch a bus to go to school and stuff.

00:24So a lot of those things are basically, yeah, we do every day.

00:28Jonathan knows this drive like the back of his hand.

00:31He's been doing it for decades and he's noticed his land is changing.

00:35There's the water rising very fast and it's a lot higher than what's going back in the

00:4280s.

00:43Sea levels are rising nearly three times as fast in the Northern Territory compared to

00:48the south of the country.

00:49It never used to be like this on a high tide or even in the wet season.

00:53There'd still be banks and stuff like that.

00:56So, yeah, it's amazing to see that much water up here already.

01:00The NT is more vulnerable to sea level rise because of its large tides, as much as eight

01:06metres difference from low to high compared to just two metres in the southern states.

01:13With most of its wetlands less than one metre above sea level, the CSIRO estimates in 75

01:19years nearly 80 per cent of freshwater wetlands will be converted into a saltwater ecosystem.

01:27Just outside Kakadu, satellite data reveals mangroves are taking over where the freshwater

01:32used to be.

01:33So, when the saltwater intrusion happened, freshwater species, which is like pepper bark or Malaleuca

01:40forest are dying above and that entire bioregion changed because of mangrove encroachment.

01:47Because mangroves are saltwater species, so they like to be there.

01:50Some areas are left with a graveyard of rotting tree trunks.

01:56And that's not the only impact.

01:58This sort of event actually impacts the entire ecosystem as well.

02:03For example, it comes from invertebrate, reptiles, amphibian fishes.

02:08According to the 2024 State of the Climate report, saltwater intrusion is just one of several

02:13changes the Northern Territory can expect as a result of climate change.

02:18And the climate lead at CSIRO says the only way out is to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

02:24As we increase greenhouse gases, the earth will warm up.

02:28And we're seeing that play out.

02:29So while we're used to the climate variability, that's being exacerbated.

02:33The drier gets drier and the rainfall gets more intense.

02:38And Jonathan says that could be a problem for the community of Goombolunya.

02:42It already happened in 2007, Flo.

02:46People were walking around waist-deep in their houses, and I'm just wondering where they're

02:50going to house them when that happens.

02:54You can't house them in a waist-deep water house.

02:58I see an inland floodplain turn into an inland sea, which is amazing every year.

03:05To me, it's a warning telling us where the tide's going to be every time the tide come in.

03:10Hoping it's not too late to turn the tide.

03:12Hoping it's not too late to turn the tide.

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