Amalgamation fuels climate change awareness
Wed 03 June 2009
Megan Marks, Journalism Major
Climate change awareness and the uptake of environmental initiatives have increased since the amalgamation of the three councils on the Sunshine Coast.
In a move to improve public service efficiency the Queensland Government recently amalgamated local councils, forming the Sunshine Coast Regional Council (SCRC) from the previous Noosa Shire Council, Maroochydore Shire Council and Caloundra City Council.
In what was seen by many as an unpopular amalgamation, benefits have already been reaped by households and organisations that have formed partnerships with the SCRC to tackle climate change.
SCRC manager of environmental initiatives Ben McMullen said that since amalgamation more residents and businesses have become involved in Council’s climate change initiatives, especially the Living Smart Homes program.
“We’re in the process of regionalising the service, but since amalgamation we have more than doubled participation in the project.”
Since 2007 Living Smart Homes has encouraged householders to live sustainably by signing up to the free program.
Participants are required to complete a number of modules designed to reduce waste as well as the household’s use of water, energy, and transport.
Emma Menzies joined the Living Smart Homes program two years ago to encourage her family to live more sustainably.
“I was already doing lots of things like composting all my waste and using a worm farm, growing fruit and vegies and we had a rainwater tank for the garden. I had changed most of my lights to energy efficient ones although after I joined Living Smart I changed all the rest,” she said.
“I think that for me the main thing has been the transport. Now I try to cycle to work twice a week.”
“Living Smart is about engaging householders in ecologically sustainable behaviour change,” Mr McMullen said. “We’ve even seen a community based arm of the project established which instigates uptake of the Living Smart program on a street-by-street basis.”
The Sunshine Coast has been identified as a hotspot for environmental issues by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).
In response to this the SCRC has drafted a Climate Change Strategy Position Paper which noted the identification of the region by the IPCC as especially susceptible to climate change impact.
The report stated that “ongoing coastal development and population growth in areas such as Cairns and South East Queensland ... are projected to exacerbate risks from sea level rise and increases in the severity and frequency of storms and coastal flooding by 2050.”
Mr McMullen said the previously disparate councils have worked together to build a consistent environmental plan to prepare for these and other environmental risks.
“Before amalgamation each council had its own local green gas emission reduction action plan,” he said. “But then we all came together, did a stocktake and now we’ve developed an overall action plan for the whole council.”
While many residents of the Sunshine Coast have taken up the environmental initiatives of council, partnerships have prospered with the size of the new council giving clout to the green message of what was previously the small shire of Noosa.
University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) associate professor Bill Carter has been working in partnership with SCRC to develop a set of indicators to measure climate change and environmental impact on the coast.
“We have had to modify the indicators to suit the vision of the council as vibrant, green, diverse,” he said. “Environment is easy to see. It’s the social and economic indicators that need to be fine-tuned to suit the environmental vision of council.”
“We’re not trying to predict climate change. If we’re going to respond to the climate change challenge we are working on what do we have to do.”
Dr Carter said the CSIRO was also interested in building partnerships in the region because of its demographic, its coastal location and its population growth.
The CSIRO has been working with USC’s Sustainability Research Centre to examine the capacity of the Sunshine Coast to respond to science and consequently adapt to climate change.
“The CSIRO is doing all of this wonderful research and there is no one to take it up. It’s about getting the knowledge in the appropriate form to the people who can use it,” Dr Carter said.
“We’ve got to use this information, otherwise it’s just a waste of time.”
Since the merging of the councils the Sunshine Coast has seen changes in infrastructure, policy and most notably the ethos of the government body.
Bob Abbot, the mayor of the previous Noosa Shire, was voted in as the head of the supercouncil based on his well-known environmental stance and his acknowledgment of the threat of over-development to the area.
Dr Carter said he looked forward to future collaboration between the SCRC and USC.
“Because of the vision that the Mayor has set, I think it’s given impetus to realising council and the university can be productive partners in these areas,” he said.
Image(s) designed by Megan Marks