Using the criteria above, a list of potential regional projects were considered, scored and prioritised.
To highlight the objective and relevance of each of the projects, they have been presented in relation to the themes of risks they are designed to address. The projects have also been tiered to include the priority projects as the first tier. These are the top 10 scoring project themes, which will be further considered and potentially pursued as part of Phase Two of the Project. This list is an initial list only and is subject to further scoping and refinement and may change as a result.
| Risk theme | Risks | Tier 1 (priority) projects | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impact of projected changes to the climate and extreme weather events on: | Assets and services |
Increase in coastal erosion Flood damage to coastal assets, higher maintenance and repair costs Storm surges resulting in changes to infrastructure needs in coastal areas Loss of residential and commercial properties through fire or coastal inundation |
Land use planning - share better practice in embedding climate resilience in council land use planning |
|
Information gaps/barriers Understanding of ongoing localised impacts of the projected changes to the climate |
Internal capacity building through SimClim training | ||
|
Stress on critical infrastructure due to extreme heat, sea level rise, flooding Loss of residential and commercial property Cost of repair, maintenance, rebuilding, relocation of assets Impact on community health and wellbeing Impact on local economy due to impact on industry and workers Increased stress on environment and ecosystems across the Region |
Internal risk identification and assessment
|
||
| Agriculture |
Loss of productivity, decreased yields A change in the nature of agricultural uses (e.g. grazing to cropping) |
Mapping of extent of sensitive agricultural areas | |
| Impact of projected changes to the climate and extreme weather events on: | Economic impacts of changes to extreme events |
Reduced productivity due to environmental degradation associated with heat stress and less rainfall Impacts on tourism due to change in temperatures, critical infrastructure impacts (e.g. roads) Coastal erosion and inundation – impacts on tourist and other assets Stress on environment will impact on nature-based tourism |
Sectoral studies into impacts (including thresholds and tipping points) and opportunities:
|
|
Increase in cost of emergency response including pressure on council services and resources Greater frequency and severity of storms and bushfires will lead to increased costs of maintenance, repair and replacement of assets and infrastructure Secondary costs such as loss of productivity when staff cannot work, social issues such as illness |
Analysis of extreme events – costs, impacts and stress tests:
|
||
| Community health and wellbeing |
Heat stress, increased dehydration, greater demand for water Reduced water availability due to reduced rainfall |
Study into the resilience of the water systems in unserviced water areas | |
| Infrastructure |
Increase in costs of maintenance and repair Loss of access routes during storm events (e.g. localised flooding) Erosion of cliffs and land alongside the roadways, increased risk of landslide Impacts on infrastructure performance, causing transport delays and disruption |
Identify hot spots along the Great Ocean Road and other key roads (e.g. flooding, inundation, extreme heat) for modelling in 2030 and 2070 Investigate how increased temperatures might impact upon the design life of road seals Prepare response plan |
|
| Increased likelihood of bushfire | Impact on community, environment, assets and infrastructure | Modelling of bushfires incorporating future climate change impacts |
Table 12: Regional priority actions
The second and third tier projects did not score as high as the Tier 1 priority projects, and may be considered less critical now, however they may be valuable projects to reassess and consider in the future. These additional projects, which were considered and assessed as part of the prioritisation process, are listed below and grouped by risk theme.
| Risk theme | Tier 1 (priority) projects | Tier 2 projects | Tier 3 projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assets and services – Council and organisation | Land use planning - share better practice in embedding climate resilience in council land use planning | Embed climate futures into partner and other key agency strategies, plans and programs (part of prioritisation of actions) | Climate proof council contracts and procurement |
| Internal capacity building through SimClim training | Identify and prepare Guidance Manuals (Council buildings and resilience) | Build climate risk into Council budgeting | |
Internal risk identification and assessment
|
Build resilience considerations into council building management, upgrades and new (building resilience assessments/protocols) | Incorporate climate change into emergency response - review council emergency response procedures in light of project findings | |
| Build resilience considerations into asset upgrades and capital works decision making | |||
| Economic impacts of changes to extreme events | Sectoral studies into impacts and opportunities:
|
Detailed coastal hazard mapping
|
|
Analysis of extreme events – costs, impacts and stress tests:
|
|||
| Agriculture | Mapping of extent of sensitive agricultural areas | ||
| Sectoral study into impacts and opportunities for the agricultural sector | |||
| Community health and wellbeing | Study into the resilience of the water systems in unserviced water areas |
Complete regional adaptation plan Revise Climate Resilience Roadmap (CRR) accordingly |
|
| Infrastructure |
Identify hot spots along the Great Ocean Road and other key roads (e.g. flooding, inundation, extreme heat) for modelling in 2030 and 2070 Investigate how increased temperatures might impact upon the design life of road seals Prepare response plan |
Include climate risk in infrastructure design manual (including resilience assessment for assets and climate proofing and review of design guidelines for councils’ key infrastructure) | |
| Bushfire | Modelling of bushfires incorporating future climate change impacts | ||
| Information gaps/ barriers | SimClim extreme events modelling for summer period (excluding mountain ranges) | Demographics for 2030 and/or 2050 and then redoing social sensitivity analysis |
Table 13: Tiered regional projects
Assessment criteria
The next step - implementation
