News and Resources: Information updates and helpful tools

Adapting the western region of Adelaide for climate change

Read the full report of the AdaptWest Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PDF)

In a hurry? – read the Executive Summary (PDF)

Want more detail? – read the research papers

AdaptWest in Action - read the AdaptWest 3 year Action Plan 

Climate Change and Coastal Flooding - read the Coastal and Inundation Modelling Phase 3 Report 

Vulnerable households and extreme heat - read the AdaptWest Report - Residential Building Retrofit for Climate Adaptation 

Red Cross Climate Ready Communities presentation givento the Port Environment Centre April 2021

AdaptWest Community Survey report 

AdaptNow! Changing for Climate Change - winner, Local Government, as part of the 2022 Resilient Australia Awards.

AdaptNow was a Disaster Risk Reduction Grant funded project and an initiative in partnership with the Cities of West Torrens, Charles Sturt and Port Adelaide Enfield. Building on the hypothetical event previously undertaken by Resilient South and Resilient East (called Hot, Hot, Hot), the AdaptNow event focused on the cascading impacts of heatwave, bushfire smoke, power outages and flood risk.

The purpose of the project was to build co-designed resources through a series of structured workshops and role-playing exercises. Working with specialist planning firm Urban and Regional Planning Services (URPS), engagement was aimed at harder to reach cohorts in our community and the AdaptWest Business community.

The process culminated at an event held on October 27th, 2021 at the Woodville Town Hall, where a panel of experts, unpacked a climate change driven scenario where compounding emergencies; that afford little or no time to recover between events, impact on businesses and communities in Western Adelaide over a three week period.

The award was presented by The Hon. Joe Szakacs MP. Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correction Services at the Australian Disaster Resilience Conference and was accepted by Jeremy Miller, AdaptWest Regional Coordinator on behalf of the partner councils.

The awards recognise outstanding contributions in each state and territory across seven categories: business, community, government, local government, mental health and wellbeing, school, and photography, through a wide range of initiatives with past projects centred on risk assessment and mitigation, mental health and wellbeing, education, training and research, and community engagement, as well as response and recovery.

State and territory winners are considered for national awards, along with projects entered directly to the national awards – projects selected as national finalists will benefit from national exposure through a range of communication channels.

The Resilient Australia Awards is proudly sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with the states and territories and managed by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR).

AdaptWest Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Actions 

The AdaptWest partner councils, in conjunction with Red Cross held a series of community workshops as part of Climate Ready Communities.

In response to participant feedback, the resource below has been produced to help distinguish between mitigation and adaptation actions, as well as provide useful suggestions about actions people can undertake at home to improve their environmental sustainability.

Please click on the image to downlaod the full resource! 

AdaptWest Community Survey Results 

A community survey was conducted in early 2021 to test whether values expressed in the AdaptWest Climate Change Adaptation Plan (2016) are still relevant to our community. Further understanding was also required as to whether these values are still held in common by our diverse community, or if a different set of values and priorities are yet to be uncovered. The initial values were developed following a series of community workshops held five years ago, and attitudes and understanding of climate change may have changed since then.

The survey was live from 17 March through to 7 April 2021.

A total of 448 respondents completed the survey.  

The survey garnered key information regarding awareness of climate change and the range of activities already being undertaken by individuals in the community to prepare, respond and be resilient.

What did you tell us?
Respondents expressed a strong awareness about climate change, with 88 per cent indicating they had a good knowledge of climate change and 84 per cent agreeing that taking action on climate change was personally important. When asked about whether they had already experienced the effects of climate change 71 per cent said they had, with this figure increasing to 80 per cent who thought that it would impact them personally in the future.

When individuals were asked about their personal concern for how climate change would impact their lives or features of the western region, the impacts on our natural environment, including beachers, mangroves, rivers trees and animals rated most highly at 90 per cent. Concern for for future generations (children, grandchildren), along with recreational opportunities (parks and gardens, beachers, river environments and sporting fields) rated a close second at 89 per cent. 

Responses demonstrated these values in the AdaptWest plan still hold true, with scores ranging from 7.8 through to 9 out of 10 when asked to rate their importance. Overall, the coastal environment and coastal and riverine water quality were viewed as the most valued elements to those surveyed, followed by amenity and quality of life, management and use of stormwater, infrastructure and essential services, regional productivity and economic contribution to the state and a strong and connected community.

Results from the survey will help inform the future direction and priorities for the overall AdaptWest in Action Program.

Read the full survey results here. 

The risks to Australia of a 3°C warmer world

A new report has been published by the Australian Academy of Science (March 2021)

"This report synthesises the observed impacts of climate change on Australia and the risk to our future of the current global trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions. It focuses on the consequences of 3°C of global warming in the absence of greater mitigation strategies for four areas of importance to Australia’s future: our ecosystems, food production, cities and towns, and health and wellbeing. The impacts of those changes on the lives and wellbeing of Australians are discussed in detail."

The report can be found here 

Disaster Risk Reduction Grants Program 2019-21 - AdaptNow event

Adapt Now! Changing for Climate Change

The AdaptWest team are pleased to announce that we have been sucessful in being awarded a 2021 Disaster Risk Reduction grant to run a major event in the Western Adelaide region. The AdaptNow event will build on the successful “Hot, Hot, Hot” hypothetical previously run by Resilient East and Resilient South. However, rather than only focusing on a heatwave scenario, AdaptNow will explore the cascading impact a heatwave and flooding event will have on Western Adelaide. This will be done through a series of workshops where a scenario will be explored and a hypothetical co-created with participants. The workshops and event will be targeted towards Culturally and Linguistically Diverse demographics and the Western Adelaide business community

Please keep in touch with us through our newsletter to be involved in the workshops and the event. 

Further information on the AdaptNow project can be found here. 

Urban Heat and Trees Online Mapping Viewer

The AdaptWest councils in collaboration with a team of other Adelaide metropolitan councils, the State Government and project consultant Aerometrex, have built upon the metro wide urban heat data to also include a tree canopy map.

An online Viewer enables the user to zoom into an area of interest to view tree canopy alongside urban heat, building footprints, tree health and social vulnerability layers.

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology was used to capture the high resolution, three-dimensional tree data by flying over the metropolitan Adelaide study area.  A special camera onboard the plane emits infrared laser pulses, and records how long it takes for the pulse to travel to the earth and back. This allows for calculation of the location, extent and height of objects that the laser pulse interacts with (e.g. trees, power lines, buildings, and the ground). This means that a tree's leaves, branches and trunk can be ‘imaged’, along with the ground and any other objects beneath it.

These maps can provide a useful visual tool for benchmarking canopy cover and tree height at a point in time, which can be replicated in the future to track tree loss or gain trends. Not only do these maps provide a benchmark, they can help develop greening and cooling initiatives, and demonstrate the benefits in retaining trees and expanding urban canopy.

Will Steffen - Climate Change 2020 - Why we are facing an emergency - April 2020

The team at Zero Emissions Byron (ZEB), Marigold Health Foods - Australia and the Renew Canberra Branch recently hosted a presentation by Professor Will Steffen.

Professor Steffen explains the current background data and science behind the climate emergency, tipping points and thresholds to avoid run away climate change, and gives a good summary of political and ideological barriers in the face of emissions reduction.

He then draws succinct parallels between climate change and Covid-19 responses. He discusses the fair transition from an economy based on fossil fuels to a broad-based social position required to move Australia in a different direction.

A solution to cut extreme heat by up to 6 degrees is in our own backyards

AdaptWest has been working with a group of reserachers from Macquarie University to build on the investment in our Urban Heat Mapping project. Their researchers looked at the benefits household gardens (grass and trees) provide in reducing the impact of extreme heat conditions. Their summary report is available here. The work has also been picked up in The Conversation; The United Nation’s Disaster Risk Reduction knowledge platform; Adelade Now; EcoVoice; The Messenger and Cosmos Magazine. 

Letting your lawn die off? Think again if you want to stay cool

The AdaptWest councils are working with SA Water to monitor the cooling potential of irrigated water on public parks and reserves. An article about the work appeared in a recent edition of the Fifth Estate.

See how global warming has changed the world since your childhood

In this fascinating interactive webpage, see what impact the rise in global temperatures has had in your life time and explore why it is so important to limit the rise in temperatures for future generations. 

Sharewaste

Sharewaste is a website where people can share their kitchen scraps or can register to take scraps.

Share what you grow

Want to share your extra fruit, vegetables, herbs and seedlings that you have grown with your local community? You can drop these off for others to take for free at a local Grow Free cart. You can also take what you need from the carts. Some of the simple rules are that there is no bartering, swapping or selling.

Find more information and find a cart near you.