HEAT

Adaptation is preparing for more extreme heat in the built environment and its impacts on people

Increased heat is the most direct consequence of climate change and heatwaves are the cause of more deaths than any other natural hazard. The Grampians Region will experience increasingly frequent, lengthy, and intense heatwaves. They will also drive disruptions to agricultural production, supply of fresh food, industry productivity, outdoor work, sport/recreation, energy security in times of peak demand and transport delays across the Region, as well as to ecosystems and biodiversity.

 

Adaptation plans and actions already underway

Lead agency

 

Public Health and Wellbeing Plan 2019-2023

Department of Health

 

Municipal health and wellbeing and emergency management plans

Local governments across the Region

 

Grampians Regional Emergency Management PlanRegional Emergency Management Planning Committee (REMPC)

 

State Emergency Management Plan

Emergency Management Victoria (EMV)

Cool It

Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance

 

Heat Health Plan (2020), heat health advice / communications and local heat planning

Department of Health and local governments

 

Urban tree canopy projects

Local governments across the Region

 

Municiple renewable energy targets and power purchase agreements

Local governments across the Region

 

Strategic use of shade for outdoor work areas

Eg. Horsham Livestock Exchange

 

Victoria Energy UpgradesDepartment of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

 

Leading opportunities

  • Embed heatwave planning into municipal health and wellbeing and emergency management plans.
  • Mitigation strategies to reduce household energy consumption are also good adaptation strategies.
  • Using green financing options to encourage uptake of energy efficiency and climate adaptation measures.
  • Increased urban tree canopies, river green links, water sensitive urban design and refuges from the heat and cold weather for vulnerable people.
  • Community resilience strategies that emphasise looking out for our neighbours can increase the social capital of those communities.
  • Working with developers to improve the quality of new housing stock above minimum standards.
  • Retrofitting existing buildings for thermal efficiency.
  • Extensive roadside land can be planted out for tree canopy cover and heat reduction.
  • Research can identify affordable and accessible ways to retrofit established buildings for greater thermal performance and energy efficiency.

Main barriers

  • Many of the heat management challenges are with existing buildings and infrastructure, especially heritage buildings.
  • Where heat causes declines in productivity, it affects the Region’s economy, which in turn affects local capacity to invest in climate adaptations.
  • Criteria for inclusion on the Vulnerable Persons Registers is restrictive.
  • High demand for electricity on hot days can impact the reliability of the transmission network.
  • Tree planting programs may not select drought-tolerant species or allow for ongoing maintenance costs.
  • Economic settings and planning rules often work against community solutions, which makes heat harder and more expensive for communities to manage.

David Turley from the City of Ballarat

Phil King from Hindmarsh Shire Council

Contact

E: mail@adaptgrampians.com.au

 

Adapt Grampians © 2020 All rights reserved.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the First Nations Peoples of the land and waters that we live, care and work upon within the Grampians Region. We respect the continuous culture that has been embedded into history for thousands of years. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.