Climate Change Effects Mental Health

A largely unrecognised effect of climate change - its impact on mental health - will be considered at two Queensland conferences this week.

The topic is high on the agenda of the 2008 Queensland Landcare Conference being held at Monto, in the state's southeast.

A Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health conference in Cairns will also address the possible impacts.

The current prolonged drought over much of Australia - widely recognised as being caused by climate change - has alerted rural communities to the link between mental illness and suicide ahead of their city counterparts.

Keynote speaker at the Landcare conference, mental health advocate Fay Jackson, said a problem that was already very serious in the bush would only get worse with climate change.

"We have drought and we have flood, which we always have had in Australia, but they appear to be coming more frequently," Ms Jackson said.

"The 10 hottest years on record have been in the last 14 years.

"I think it will absolutely have a direct affect on farmers and their families."

Climate change was already causing stress to city consumers as farmers are forced to pass on rising costs, Ms Jackson said.

"If people are finding it harder to feed their families then it's going to have an effect on mental health," she said.

Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Group Collective chairman Mike Berwick said society would undergo big changes within a generation.

Rural communities should prepare by building resilience into landscapes and farming practices - but also into the health of those who manage them, Mr Berwick said.

"There are some pretty severe mental health issues in rural Australia and of course climate change is one of those stressors that's going to add to it," he said.

"Society's had its head in the sand for far too long.

"I think the urban communities have got their head in the sand more than rural communities because farmers understand climate variability."

Mr Berwick said stress was likely to become more widespread as the effects of climate change hit urban communities.

"We've got to learn to understand and adapt and get ready for it," he said.

Several sessions of the Creating Futures Conference, being held in Cairns by the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health until Thursday, will deal with the issue of mental health in the face of drought and climate change.