Conference organizer Jean Palutikof warns that Australia will be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change starts. However, he is hopeful the meeting on the Gold Coast will provide some valuable answers...

"This is not a climate change science conference," Palutikof said. "So, actually, I expect the messages from this conference to be positive ones around action against climate change and empowering people to act to protect themselves against climate change, so I am looking forward to three days of positive messages about how we can tackle the problem of climate change."

Among the speakers at the meeting will be Joseph Alcamo, the chief scientist of the United Nation's Environment Program.

In coming days, the conference is expected to hear from researchers that, if the world is to learn from Australia's experience at the hand of an increasingly unpredictable climate, then it must act quickly and decisively.

However, many Australians remain wary of assertions that their country will fall victim to potentially destructive, man-made climate change. Other scientists, mining companies and farmers believe that man's influence on the environment is negligible and insist that any shifts in temperatures or sea levels are part of a natural cycle.