Pocket change to tackle coastal climate change

BY ANGIRA BHARADWAJ

An $80,000 grant to combat climate change has been granted to the Sydney Coastal Councils Group by the NSW Government.

The Building Resilience to Climate Change grant is aimed at supporting local governments in delivering projects aimed at minimising the local impact of climate change within the next 15 months.

Bruce Notley-Smith, Member for Coogee, said local councils have a role to play in responding to climate change threats that occur at a local level.

“As Coogee is a densely populated coastal electorate it is imperative that we continue to fund investigations into the risk that are associated with a changing climate. I’m confident that this money will further our understanding of those risks and provide some suggestions for mitigating them,” he said.

Amanda Mckenzie, CEO of the Climate Council said NSW, like the rest of Australia is highly vulnerable to climate change.

“We’re already a land of drought, flooding rain and extreme weather. Climate change exacerbates extreme weather over time.

“We’ve already seen extremely hot days with heatwaves becoming hotter, longer and more frequent,” she said.

Ms Mckenzie said Australia has a huge opportunity to improve its use of renewable energy sources.

“The first step is to prepare for worsening extreme weathers, to make sure that the community, health services, fire services and local councils are prepared. This grant is part of that and is really important.

“The second step is to tackle the root cause of the problem which is climate change. We need to make sure that we’re reducing emission from sources like coal, oil and gas and moving our energy sources to renewable energy sources,” she said.

Ms Mckenzie said that with the appointment of new Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, the State Government has the opportunity to do more for climate change.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said strong and immediate initiatives to tackle climate change need to occur at all levels of government.

“For coastal councils this means implementing proper coastal management guidelines, setting clear guidelines for sea level rise and putting an end to inappropriate coastal development.

“It also means being an advocate for local and global action on what is a looming climate emergency,” he said.

Mr Shoebridge said the work done by coastal councils needs to be supported with resourcing from the State Government that goes beyond individual grants.

“On the one hand the NSW government has given a one-off $80,000 grant and that’s good, while on the other they are routinely approving coal mines and coal mine extensions,” he said.