IPART highlights need to budget for green infrastructure
The Australian Conservation Foundation Central Coast branch has responded to a recent IPART report into funding local councils, which highlighted climate change as an external factor that councils can't control.
"The report states that climate change should be addressed in a manner that accepts the serious impacts on the communities' health, infrastructure and housing," said group president Mr Mark Ellis.
"The current business as usual approach within the Central Coast Council and the constant paralysis by analysis of how to fund flooding, coastal erosion and tree planting will not address the accelerating effects of the climate crisis.
"To address climate change there needs to be deep structural changes to society.
"However, the United Nations Environment Program emissions gap report highlights the difficult job of reducing the required CO2 reduction of 65 per cent by 2050.
"The IPART is correct to raise these concerns, as the question of funding is central to how climate adaptation is implemented.
"The first step councils can start with is by focussing their budget on climate positive actions like increasing budgets on green infrastructure.
"Councils can have policies to mitigate their climate emissions, and increase the liveability of suburbs with increased tree plantings to reduce the heat island impacts.
"Central Coast Council only put forward $40,000 per annum to tree planting programs yet committed over a million towards a climate destroying airport master plan at Warnervale.
"It is clear from the community response to the Austin Butler reserve survey, the community wants council to do better when it comes to reducing tree loss and increase planting trees to ameliorate the increasing heat impacts on our towns and villages."
SOURCE:
Media release, 26 Nov 2023
Mark Ellis, Woy Woy