IN the wake of Western Australia’s hottest and driest summer on record, leading WA climate and nature experts, as well as farmers, converged on the steps of Parliament on Monday to warn of the potential consequences on the environment and food production, and have called for urgent action.

Climate scientist and chief executive officer of Climate Analytics Bill Hare spoke about how the record heat Western Australia has been experiencing aligns with intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) predictions, and how fossil fuel production and use must be urgently phased out to avoid further dire climate impacts on WA.

Western Australian Forest Alliance acting director (WAFA) Jess Boyce talked about the profound impacts the record heat and drought are already having on WA’s forests, woodlands and coastal vegetation, as WAFA supporters document dead and dying trees around the state.

Birdlife’s Carnaby black cockatoo coordinator Sam Rycken focussed on the implications of forest collapse for WA’s beloved and endangered black cockatoos.

“Cockatoos are the canary in the coal mine as climate change hits WA’s forests. The first recorded forest collapse in 2010/11 seriously impacted breeding success causing a major decline in their numbers, and there are grave concerns for them in this latest and far more severe forest collapse event,” Mr Rycken said.

Farmers also made their point with Simon Wallwork, farmer and chair of AgZero2030 talking about how farmers are experiencing record or near record dry conditions and the impact this is having on farm production.

Record maximum temperatures last September for many locations impacted crop production at a critical time of year when crops were flowering.