City of Melbourne developed a Climate Change
Adaptation Strategy in 2007. In 2010, the urgency posed by the impacts of
climate changes resulted in the city creating a multi-million dollar integrated
climate change adaptation program – the Urban Landscapes Adaptation Program.
The key goal of the Program is taking immediate action to respond to heat and
drought. Successful actions include:
- Enacting projects including urban forest expansion, green space expansion, streetscape adaptation, development of green roofs & walls, integrated water management and storm water harvesting, and introducing permeable pavements.
- Running a four-year citizen engagement program to develop public awareness about the impacts of drought on the urban forest.
- Developing guidelines for species diversification to minimize vulnerability to pests and disease.
- Increasing evapotranspiration by watering of parks.
- Undertaking Australia’s first city based dendrochronology research to understand the impacts of climate change at city-scale.
- Running a Green Roofs Forum quarterly since 2010 to facilitate knowledge transfer to community and industry and developing the Growing Green Guidelines – Australia’s first guide for constructing green roofs.
- Commissioning cutting edge academic research to guide the city’s adaptation decisions.
To read click here:
