Peninsula vulnerable to climate change, says ACF

The Woy Woy Peninsula is one of Australia's population centres most vulnerable to climate change in Australia, according to Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) Central Coast president Mr John Wiggin.

And it should be recognized as such in the draft Central Coast Regional Strategy, he said

The branch is calling on the State Government to recognise the reality of climate change in its 25-year plan for the Central Coast.

ACF Central Coast is making a strong submission on the proposed Central Coast Regional Strategy based on "its failure to incorporate strategies and/or adequately address the effects of climate change over the next 25 years and beyond".

"Any serious long-term land-use planning should acknowledge the reality of climate change," Mr Wiggin said.

"It should not only to plan for its potential effects, but also contribute to reducing its causes as a matter of social responsibility."

Mr Wiggin said regional planning strategies, through their determination of our lifestyles, have a greater impact on climate change than just about any other government measure.

"The Central Coast Regional Strategy should make this its central theme," he said.

The ACF Central Coast submission points out that the proposed regional strategy does not include actions to combat climate change and ignores, and fails to plan for, the potential effects of even mild climate change and resource depletion.

"For example, the Woy Woy Peninsula, being a sandplain which is entirely below 10m above sea level, is among the most vulnerable population centres in Australia.

"Yet the plan does not acknowledge this or recognise the need for greater infrastructure to cope with increased flooding and inundation due to more intense and frequent storms as well as probable sea level rise, in an area already deficient in effective waste water management.

"Nor does it offer the alternative of removing residential development from the Peninsula," said Mr Wiggin.

He said the regional strategy embedded "business as usual", activity that could be anticipated to exacerbate dangerous climate change.

It specifically prevented activity that would help reduce it, he said.

"For example, it continues to promote reliance on inter-regional transport suggesting the widening of the F3 and higher capacity rail services, rather than reducing the need for them."

Mr Wiggin said the plan also failed to look far enough ahead to adequately address climate change in the longer term, either from an environmental or an economic viewpoint.

While welcoming the Government's intention to put a 25-year plan in place, he said: "The plan should have an outlook to at least 2050, the critical waypoint on the path to climate change reversal."

Mr Wiggin said the key strategy for long-term land-use planning in the region should be localisation and the Central Coast Regional Strategy should reflect this.

"Not only will localisation be imposed on us by the decreasing supply and increasing expense of fossil fuels, it is the best strategy to reduce energy consumption and carbon emission.

"For example, the strategy should provide for people to work within walking or cycling distance of their homes.

"It should also seek to ensure that the region is as self-sufficient as possible in food production, including market gardening in the high rainfall urban areas.

"Self-help community-level approaches should be encouraged, particularly to water supply, and to energy and waste management."

Mr Wiggin said the strategy should encourage eco-village approaches to neighbourhood development in both rural and urban areas, using, where appropriate, cooperative ownership models to achieve lower environmental impacts, while providing a higher quality of life at a lower cost.

Press release, November 20 John Wiggin, Australian Conservation Foundation