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MEDIA RELEASE: Dandenong Ranges Community Feeling Urgency of Climate Preparedness

October 10, 2024

Dandenong Ranges calls for the Victorian Government to fund Community-Led Climate Adaptation

 

The Victorian government is running an Inquiry into Climate Resilience, which is looking into the preparedness of communities facing climate disasters across the state. The submissions stage of the Resilience Inquiry process is closed, and the committee undertaking the Inquiry is now conducting hearings.

The third of these hearings was in Emerald at the Lakeside Centre on 10 October 2024. At the event, local councils, emergency support groups and businesses, Emerald Community House Centre of Resilience, and others spoke to the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee about local climate resilience. Concerned members of the Dandenong Ranges, Greater Dandenong, and wider South East Melbourne community went along to hear them speak. 

Before going into the hearing, community members gathered outside to show support for government funding of community-led climate adaptation. They held up a banner with the words ‘Fund Community Climate Resilience’ on it.

To prepare for locked-in climate impacts, we need adequate and ongoing funding for community-led adaptation work. This funding will enable communities to fulfil their plans to build resilient communities in a changing climate and keep those most at risk safe,” Vicky Ellmore, Act on Climate Community Organiser, said.

 

Friends of the Earth Melbourne’s Act on Climate collective has been ensuring community members' voices are heard through this Inquiry, both their concerns and the solutions they want to see enacted. The collective is calling for the committee to recommend a Victorian Community Climate Adaptation Fund (VCCAF). The fund would distribute money annually to community groups that apply to undertake localised adaptation initiatives.

Over three quarters (83.75%) of submissions to the Inquiry called for increased funding in climate adaptation, with half (49.58%) calling for ongoing funding and over a third (39.58%) calling for Act on Climate’s VCCAF specifically.

 

In their submissions to the Inquiry into Climate Resilience, people from the Dandenong Ranges shared their concerns around the bushfires and storm events the area has experienced. In addition, locals are concerned about the isolation of people in the Dandenong Ranges when power supply and communication is disrupted and roads close. Quotes from local submissions include:

“[The second severe storm event in 2024] following so soon after the 2021 created alarm and an increased sense of urgency. It challenged the Emerald community to think and act differently. The ferocity of the event, the destruction and failure of multiple infrastructure services, the widespread impact on the functioning of the community and the apparent unpreparedness of so many people, businesses, and relevant authorities and agencies to cope, raised the inadequacy of the current arrangements.

 The ongoing threat of bushfire and the overall vulnerability of communities in the Dandenong Ranges to power and internet outages, the closure of roads, the potential isolation of towns and individual households and the high level 5 of reliance on motor vehicles were brought dramatically to light. No longer was it an option to sit back as a community and wait for action.”

With Community Climate Adaptation Funding our local community would be empowered to identify dangers and risks present in a changing climate and better respond to preparation needs before disasters strike.”

 

In their submissions the actions and solutions Dandenong Ranges locals are calling for include:

  • information and education on what resources are available in an emergency and how they will be deployed, as well as on resilience plans, strategies, and communication plans for before, during and after climate impacts and disasters,
  • local community resilience plans,
  • undergrounding of power lines and local energy and telecommunications security
  • hazard tree inspections and improved vegetation management, and
  • funding for local adaptation initiatives, such as community emergency hubs in Hills townships, emergency information kits for distribution to the community, and energy backup systems.

 

In their submissions the actions and solutions Greater Dandenong locals are calling for include:

  • the preservation and expansion of green spaces for urban cooling,
  • strong minimum standards for rental housing and improving energy ratings for new homes to ensure they are thermally and environmentally safe,
  • updated flood mapping and no new developments in areas impacted by flooding,
  • better management of the water load on the drainage systems,
  • neighbourhood batteries,
  • enhanced public transport with localised routes and walkable suburbs,
  • localisation rather than centralisation in food, jobs, services, and education,
  • address the current lack of culturally diverse voices in the climate adaptation and resilience discussion, and
  • a significant general increase of funding from the Victorian Government to local councils, community service organisations, emergency service providers and community groups.

 

Communities know what climate adaptation plans and projects are most needed and relevant for them, but they are not getting the support they urgently need to implement them. They are looking to the state government for leadership and assistance to adapt to climate impacts,” said Ms Ellmore.

“While the government has undertaken adaptation planning work, this has not been sufficiently acted on and has not been backed up with ongoing funding to prepare communities for the climate impacts forecast to affect Victoria. Every step we take to help communities adapt to now unavoidable climate impacts secures a safer future and builds resilience, protecting people and Country.”

 

IMAGE: Community photo outside the Emerald Resilience Inquiry hearing with Fund Community Climate Resilience banner

 

CONTACT:

Vicky Ellmore

Community Organiser, Act on Climate collective, Friends of the Earth Melbourne

0424 687 809

 

Join the call for A Community Climate Adaptation Fund for Victoria by adding your name to our petition 

 


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