The Ku-ring-gai Council Climate Wise Communities program's key project ... Management Plan and collaborate with key emer
Building Climate Wise Communities COUNCIL NAME
Overview
Ku-ring-gai Council WEB ADDRESS
kmc.nsw.gov.au SIZE
85.5 square kilometres POPULATION
111,400
The Ku-ring-gai Council Climate Wise Communities program’s key project priorities are to foster shared responsibility in preparing and responding to natural diasters, integrate with Council’s Emergency Management Plan and collaborate with key emergency management stakeholders. The objective was to create a tool that enables residents to self-assess their natural disaster risk on personal, household and neighbourhood scales using an innovative method developed by Council. The Bushfire CRC created an engagement tool focused on bushfire preparedness. Council converted this single focus tool into a multi-hazard format that helps residents recognise their risk exposure and risk interrelatedness across different climate hazard types. It demonstrates how a single adaptation can reduce risks across multiple hazards. Over 100 people have attended the five pilot workshops and a further five workshops are planned to complete the testing of this new tool.
Background Ku-ring-gai exhibits certain resilience features such as good communication networks, high quality health care availability and good domestic insurance cover uptake, however past extreme weather events demonstrate a significant level of vulnerability remains. The Ku-ring-gai area’s vulnerabilities include an aging population, ridge-top development above deeply incised forested gullies, aged brick and tile construction, storm susceptible tree canopy, problematic evacuation routes in some places and intensifying urban footprint to name but a few. The Climate Wise Communities project seeks to foster a community that learns from the past, considers future challenges and prepares in the present. This may be achieved by engaging with communities to: function well at times of stress; understand the value of building good neighbourhood networks to prepare for extreme weather events and minimise recovery times and costs post the event; build self-reliance; benefit from good preparation; and value social cohesion and inclusiveness.
Implementation There are many challenges to engaging the community on climate change preparedness when the topic is highly politically charged and misinformation abounds. Council determined that project implementation needed to be at the level located in or close to the bushfire hazard zoning, in this case at the household neighbourhood scale. Five pilot workshops were conducted to test three different engagement strategies. The first involved engagement with residents who self-selected by common exposure to physical hazard, for example those in a bushfire hazard zone. The second strategy targeted a particular sector, for example residents with a non-English speaking background and the third strategy was to target residents affiliated with a group, for example a Bushcare group.
REFERENCES
kmc.nsw.gov.au
The workshops used a participatory format. Experts (mainly from emergency service providers) were on hand to answer questions and provide feedback on the merit of particular strategies. The experts delivered formal presentations which were kept short and highly contextualised with experiences of previous natural disasters. Aerial photographs assisted people to appreciate the neighbourhood scale. People identified where they thought the key hazards would occur to their neighbourhood, family and home. They also identified who in the neighbourhood might require assistance in terms of information, preparation or responding to extreme weather events. The comparison of different target groups demonstrated the value of targeting groups within the same physical risk zone and those affiliated with existing neighbourhood groups or network. The results helped refine the tool, identify future target audiences and better understand the barriers to follow up adaptation action. The workshops focused on the specific details of the risks based on historic events in their area. Workshop participants developed a mature perspective regarding their personal risk exposure and questioned whether their pre-workshop ideas of the possible options for action in an emergency were well informed. During the workshop participants identified the possible failures in current or conceived emergency response plans by considering problems that commonly occur with the smooth operation of these plans. Thinking up alternative responses to unexpected problems well ahead of time generates a ‘what if’ questioning of their plans and builds a range of alternatives that can be readily called upon if needed in the event of a real extreme weather event. At the end of the workshop participants were provided with take home materials to use in discussion with friends and neighbours to guide planning sessions. Some took up the challenge of engaging others with relish and organised street meetings and people to present at those meetings. The outcome of these meetings was at the very least another cohort of people is informed and enabled to take action. The snowball design of the tool encourages participants to share information to increase the reach of the initial workshop. This feature is built into the design of the materials and the tool so that anyone can pick up the tool and use it.
Outcomes The first five pilot workshops were conducted in spring 2012 and evaluated by a survey six months later to determine how many participants followed through with action to adapt to contextually relevant hazards. The survey results suggest most people discussed their plans with family, friends and neighbours, most engaged in normal property maintenance more frequently, and half commented they had done more or done things differently to previous years in terms of preparation for seasonal events. Only one respondent went further and modified his home while other people cited ill health or level of effort required as reasons for an inability to do more. The Climate Wise Communities project has had a very positive response from local emergency services providers with the Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Fire and Rescue and Red Cross by collaborating and supporting with delivery of workshops conducted to date. While local government needs to be mindful of thinning resources already stretched, the Climate Wise Communities project helps fill a significant gap in extreme weather event preparedness. Community communication and cohesion is vitally important to a successful outcome when an extreme event occurs.
Key Learnings There are many challenges to such a program succeeding in the long term. The political nature of Climate Change immediately puts people into either the ‘believe’ or ‘non believer’ box when neither is relevant to this program. The CWC program seeks to foster action against the known impacts of extreme weather events. Having people attend the workshop who have lived through experience of an extreme event proved highly disarming to those attending with an anti-climate change bias. Scale and magnitude of change are quickly becoming self-evident, but even so some still cling to the opposite view. Nevertheless, most people understand that change is happening and that to take simple, low cost precautions makes a great deal of sense even if an extreme event doesn’t materialise every year. It is here that the cost benefit
Building Climate Wise Communities January 2014
2 LGNSW.ORG.AU
REFERENCES
kmc.nsw.gov.au
argument taken across the range of extreme weather events demonstrates that a failure to take preparatory action may result in increased financial loss and hardship. Workshop venues and timing is a big challenge. To date the most successful venue has been a local school with the target audience in the streets around the school that are in the bushfire hazard zone. Timing depends on who is the target audience, for example around the school it was parents and evening was the best time to target these people. Seniors demanded daytime workshops at a venue they were familiar with and promoted through organisations targeting that demographic. This project provides a great opportunity to make a difference to community disaster preparedness. It works across Council silos and translates federal and state policy into action. A key process has been collaborating with community based groups particularly those responsible for vulnerable sectors of the community such as aged care service managers. The medium term outcome of this project aims to build knowledge hubs within the community that has the information and tools to promote resilience to extreme weather events. Existing networks bonded by affiliation to community group, sports club or common interest links are valuable to recruit people for a workshop and provide the genesis of a knowledge hub. These hubs can potentially be supported by Council with up to date information, connections into the Local Emergency Management Committee, and local combat agency groups.
Contact Name: Jenny Scott Position: Sustainability Program Leader Phone: 02 9424 0862 Email:
[email protected]
Building Climate Wise Communities January 2014
3 LGNSW.ORG.AU
