Client:
Local Government Association Tasmania in association with Clarence City Council
Location:
Greater Hobart, Tasmania
Sector/s:
Highly regarded coastal adaptation pilot project helps the Local Government Association of Tasmania to manage the impact of a changing climate.
Clarence City Council in Tasmania has several coastal communities that are affected by (or at risk from) coastal erosion and flooding. In this pilot project, we identified four erosion and flood adaptation scenarios with their indicative costs. We explored these scenarios with the local community. We then analysed the preferred option in more detail to determine unforeseen issues, costs or impacts.
This project was publicly recognised as one of the leading adaptation practice projects by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. It involved three stages.
- Stage 1: we worked with the Local Government Association of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Climate Change Office and the Tasmanian Planning Commission to help four local councils manage risks from unexpected climate change – specifically, the risk of sea levels rising in coastal communities. Our work helped the communities with their own planning and tied into the state government’s adaptation planning framework.
- Stage 2: we worked with the Tasmanian Climate Change Office and three local councils to effectively follow a 15-step adaptation process to manage potential erosion due to sea levels rising.
- Stage 3: we continued to work with the Tasmanian Climate Change Office, this time in association with the Hobart City and Huon Valley Councils. Stage 3 assessed the coastal climate vulnerability in the affluent suburb of Sandy Bay in Hobart and the regional town of Garden Island Creek in the Huon Valley. We developed complementary and mutually reinforcing adaptation pathways before undertaking a cost-benefit analysis to identify the optimal adaptation options. We engaged with councils’ elected members and with resident communities to explore preferred adaptation pathways, decision-making frameworks, and possible means of funding and governance.
