Good afternoon councillors
My name is Vivian Harris and am here today to speak for the motion to exhibit the draft Climate Resilience Strategy and then have council staff further refine the Climate Resilience Strategy based on public feedback.
I am a member of the Bega Valley Climate Action Mobilisation group and the Climate Resilience Strategy Technical Panel although I am speaking today as an individual. I have Masters in both Veterinary Science and Education but my recent Diploma in Environmental Health gives me expertise on the adverse effects that climate change is having on health and is what led me to join the Technical Panel. I was impressed during our panel meetings on the wide range of expertise and depth of scientific understanding demonstrated by both the staff members and members of the public. We are fortunate to have such expertise in our local area. When I look at this draft I can see both my own contributions and that of other people I know on the panel. I look at this draft and I know that it will be an even better roadmap forward when interested members of the public have had the chance to put their suggestions forward as well.
I know it can be difficult for some people to see that we are in a climate emergency and some people have objected to the term emergency. We are relatively sheltered here in the Bega Valley. We are not one of the towns running out of water or suffering frequent duststorms as our precious top soil blows away or looking out the window on bare baked soil. If you are not a fire fighter, oyster farmer, dairy farmer or vegetable grower it is even still possible to wake up each morning and not feel the dread of the effects of the worsening climate. The effects that scientists have been warning us of for forty years. Indeed the relative shelter from climate change is the reason I moved here.
But no-one and nowhere is safe from climate change.
Fortunately Bega Valley Council has been a leader in reducing our carbon emissions and planning our adaptation. We can see this in the many existing plans and policies in the draft addressing areas of risk. But we can do even better.
Chapter 3 of the NSW Local Government Act lists the charter of local councils. Among them are
*to exercise community leadership
* to promote and plan for the needs of children
*to manage in a manner that is consistent with and promotes the principles of ecologically sustainable development
*to have regard to the long term and cumulative effects of its decisions and
*to engage in long term strategic planning on behalf of the local community
The Bega Valley Climate Resilience Strategy does this. It recognises that with Australia’s emissions still rising, the world’s emissions still rising and the temperature and the sea level still rising that the Bega Valley in 2070 will be almost unrecognisable compared with today. It will most closely resemble the Moree of today and 2070 is really not that far away, my granddaughter will be 57 years old. The Resilience Strategy uses the best available scientific projections of our current path to help us to plan for this future world and try to keep our community safe.
Council’s responsibility to lead us through this could almost be paralysing in its immensity but you don’t have to do this alone. There is a part to play in this plan (or could be) for every individual, group, organisation and business in this valley. We just need to empower everyone to recognise their part and act. Farmers will use regenerative agriculture to increase the organic matter in their soil and its water holding capacity, to provide quality affordable local food and sequester carbon in the soil. Community groups will help strengthen community networks so that when disaster threatens, no-one, particularly not the vulnerable, will be left behind. Tradies will help us retrofit our houses and infrastructure to be energy efficient and safe in heatwaves and natural disasters. There are parts for individuals to reduce their emissions and adapt their behaviour and houses. But what we need you, Bega Valley Shire Council for, is to provide leadership, reliable information and to tackle the systemic problems that individuals can’t do alone.
The biggest resource we have in this valley to increase climate resilience is its people. When this draft is put out for public comment hundreds of people will look for their part in this plan and think about how it could be even better. With this feedback the Bega Valley Climate Resilience Strategy will give us the blueprint to navigate a way through the difficult times ahead. Together as a community we can do this.
I would also like to thank Derek Van Bracht for the professionalism and effort he has put into writing this draft Climate Resilience Strategy.
Thank you.
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