Hamilton think tank

Final report from the recent VCCCAR/RMIT think tank available to download:

Climate Change and Health in the Regions

Click here for the final report

Click here for the background paper

Click here for the program flyer 

Overview

With more than a decade of drought conditions and the impact of devastating bushfires and a concurrent heat wave in 2009, many communities in the State of Victoria have direct personal experience of coping with weather-related extreme events in recent times. However, it is increasingly recognised that climate change will act to amplify these impacts in the future, with extreme events predicted to increase in both frequency and intensity in the coming decades; thus directly and indirectly increasing health risks (and affecting quality of life) of those communities already the most vulnerable.

The VCCCAR think tank held in Hamilton on the 29th July 2010 deliberately focused on three different regional communities that have been identified as particularly vulnerable to future climate risks. These are 1) older people, particularly those who are newcomers to regional / rural living, 2) the farming community, and 3) the Indigenous community.

The workshop aimed to identify and better understand the likely climate risks for vulnerable regional communities in Victoria, to improve our understanding of the factors that increase vulnerability (in relation to human health), and to begin to map out effective adaptation strategies and how best to build local adaptive capacity. The workshop brought together local stakeholders, researchers and policy makers and consisted of both formal presentations and interactive break out groups to explore some of the challenges facing the elderly, farming, and Indigenous communities. The event sought to identify knowledge gaps and areas for further collaborative research, as well as highlight how adaptation can be promoted through improved policy and practice.