A new study by Australia climate scientists - led by the Climate Council - has found an overwhelming majority of people living in rural and regional Australia feel as though they are already having to cope with the impacts of climate change.
The study, which surveyed 2000 people across Australian rural and regional communities, found many people said they were adapting to warming conditions themselves - by introducing renewable energy solutions into their work and everyday life.
One of the community groups who helped facilitate the study was the Community Power Agency, which helps set up community-owned renewable energy projects.
The agency's director Nicky Ison told SBS policy makers and the wider public should listen to warnings from these communities.
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"There are over 90 per cent of regional Australians in this poll who say they are feeling the effects of climate change already," she said.
"Eighty-two 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."
Ms Ison said many people in rural and regional Australia were taking matters in their own hands.
In 2011, the Community Power Agency began with just two community energy projects.
Now the organisation has more than 50 operating projects.
But Ms Ison said communities wished there was more leadership from policy-makers on easing the burden of climate change impacts.
"I think there's a mixture of frustration that they're experiencing the effects [and] that there's a real lack of leadership at the policy level, so people are going, 'let's just do it ourselves', and they're trying to get on and do it," she said.
"There's a sense of fear. There are people out there who are quite concerned about what climate change is going to mean for their livelihood."
The survey also found about 46 per cent believe coal-fired power stations should be phased out and 53 per cent said solar was the preferred energy source, followed by wind and hydro power.
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Of those surveyed, 74 per cent said ignoring climate change would make the present situation worse, and two thirds called for the federal government to take a leading role in tackling climate change.
A report by the Climate Council last year explored the disadvantages experienced by rural and regional communities compared to their urban counterparts.
It surmised that risks posed by climate change to health, security, environmental assets and the economy threatened to exacerbate many of the social, economic and health inequalities already experienced by people in those areas.
It said remote communities were particularly vulnerable to increasing droughts, bushfires and heatwaves being driven by climate change, and the disadvantages were likely to worsen if climate change continues unabated.
Larissa Baldwin from Seed Indigneous Youth Climate Network said the issue of climate change was critical for Indigenous communities in their everyday lives.
"You know living in a lot 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," Ms Baldwin said.
"It's meaning that there's a lot of blackouts, which obviously affects people, especially if they need to have access to electricity because of medical needs."
Ms Baldwin said despite the resilience of people living in rural and regional communities, many were suffering.
She said policy makers needed to do more to help communities through uncertainty and climate extremes.
