Councils meet to discuss climate change

Council representatives from across the Northern Rivers and Tweed will meet at Southern Cross University in Lismore next week for a workshop designed to help tackle the challenges of climate change.

The Northern Rivers Regional Climate Change Adaptation Policy Workshop, which will take place on Monday, May 24, is being organised by the University’s Regional Futures Institute (RFI) and sponsored by McCartney Young Lawyers. The workshop will be attended by representatives from Tweed Shire, Clarence Valley, Richmond Valley and Lismore councils.

Director of the RFI Associate Professor Jeremy Buultjens said the forum was about bringing councils from the Northern Rivers region together to encourage a cooperative approach, where appropriate, to addressing climate change.

“Our aim is to support councils by providing them with a better understanding of climate change, adaptation policies and legislation,” said Professor Buultjens.

“We also want to help facilitate a regional approach to the issue, so that councils can help each other and be better placed individually to tackle the challenges of climate change.”

The workshop will feature group discussions as well as short presentations by a number of experts including Geoff Withycombe, regional environment officer/executive officer, Sydney Coastal Councils Group Inc, which won the Eureka Prize for Innovative Solutions to Climate Change for the collaborative work done by Sydney councils to tackle the effects of climate change, Mark Byrne, education officer, Northern Rivers Environmental Defender’s Office Michael Young, director and solicitor, McCartney Young Lawyers.

Professor Jeremy Buultjens said the workshop was partly the result of a recent Think Tank held by the RFI.

“Councils who attended the Think Tank identified climate change as one of the issues they would most like to address,” said Professor Buultjens.

“Recent research by one of our students, Nadine White, also found that councils working on a regional basis to tackle climate change were generally feeling more confident about the issue than those who were working in isolation.

“The workshop is specially designed for councils in this region and will include plenty of opportunity to brainstorm options for addressing the challenges that face them in relation to this topic.”

Photo: Associate Professor Jeremy Buultjens, director of the Regional Futures Institute at Southern Cross University, which is holding a workshop for councils to discuss climate change. (high resolution image available on request)