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Issue 52 | May 2009
Greg Hunt, WPGA Executive Officer, (left)
collects the award from Victorian Minister for the
Environment and Climate Change, Gavin Jennings
A climate change vulnerability assessment of Victoria's Western Port region has been awarded the Victorian Coastal Council's 2009 Innovation Prize.
Scientists from the Climate Adaptation Flagship worked with the Western Port Greenhouse Alliance (WPGA) (which includes five local governments), Marsden Jacob Associates and Broadleaf Capital International, to examine the impacts of climate change on the region.
Completed in 2008, the release of the study's findings attracted significant media coverage both locally and state-wide.
'While communities might have difficulty taking action at a global level, they can take action at the local level where the impacts of climate change manifest', says WPGA's Executive Officer, Greg Hunt.
CSIRO'S Ben Preston and his team conducted work as part of the study, looking at projecting likely sea level rise, storm surge heights and frequencies, and changes to rainfall and temperature. A geographic information system was then used to identify local government assets and infrastructure that would be affected by the projected climatic change.
Armed with this data, socio-economic consultants Marsden Jacob Associates estimated the potential financial costs of climate change for each council.
Following this, risk assessors Broadleaf Capital International gathered council staff responsible for people and infrastructure to describe the risks that result from these climate change impacts.
Workshops were also held with staff from across councils and state government agencies then participated in workshops to determine the range of adaptation options that are available to minimise these risks.
The final report of the study is now being used by councils in Western Port. As each of these councils face different exposures to climate change, so they are responding to the report differently.
Two councils have established climate change taskforces, with membership from across council departments that had not necessarily worked so closely before.
One council has implemented a series of council ward-based community seminars to present the study results with reference to the specific issues faced at that neighbourhood level. Data contributed by the participants is intended to inform council responses well into the future.
