SBS World News Radio: A new study has found that most people in rural and regional Australia feel they are already suffering the consequences of climate change.
The study of two thousand people, led by the Climate Council, has found an overwhelming majority of those living in rural and regional Australia say they're having to cope with the impacts of climate change.
One of the community groups who helped facilitate the study is the Community Power Agency.
It helps set up community-owned renewable energy projects.
Director Nicky Ison says many people are taking matters into their own hands, and that policy makers and the wider public should listen to their warnings.
"There are over 90 per cent of regional Australians in this poll who say they are feeling the effects of climate change already. 82 per cent of regional Australians are really particularly concerned about droughts and flooding and how that will effect crop production and food supply, so there's great agreement across regional Australia around the impacts of climate change and we need to be getting on and doing something about it."
In 2011, the Community Power Agency began with just 2 community energy projects.
Now it has more than 50 operational projects.
But Ms Ison says communities wish there was more leadership from policy-makers on easing the burden of the impacts of climate change.
"I think there's a mixture of frustration that they're experiencing the effects that um that they're a real lack of leadership at the policy level so people are going well, let's just do it ourselves, and they're trying to get on and do it. You know there's a sense of fear. They're are people out there who are quite concerned about what climate change is going to mean for their livelyhood."
The survey also found around 46 per cent believe coal fired power stations should be phased out.
53 per cent say solar is the preferred energy source - followed by wind and hydro power.
A report by the Climate Council, last year, explored the disadvantages experienced by rural and regional communities compared to their urban counterparts.
It concluded the risks posed by climate change to factors such as health, security, environmental assets and the economy threaten to exacerbate many of the social, economic and health inequalities already experienced by people in those areas.
Communities are particularly vulnerable to increasing droughts, bushfires and heatwaves said to be driven by climate change.
And the disadvantages are likely to worsen if climate change continues unabated.
Larissa Baldwin from Australia's first Indigenous youth climate network, called 'Seed', says the issue is critical for indigenous communities.
"You know living in alot of rural communities where people aren't adequately living in houses that have the right insulation and stuff, that extreme weather events and increasing temperature really does effect people, especially our elderly, young people and disabled people. It's meaning that there's a lot of blackouts, which obviously one effects people especially if they need to have access to electricity because of medical needs."
Ms Baldwin says despite the resilence of people living those communities, many are suffering.
She says more needs to be done by policy makers to help them through climate extremes and uncertainty.
