Resilient Hills & Coasts Regional Climate Change Adaptation Plan
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Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island Region Resilient Hills & Coasts Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island Region. Prepared by Seed Consulting Services 106 Gilles Street, Adelaide, SA 5000 www.seedcs.com.au Together with URPS Suite 12/154 Fullarton Rd, Rose Park, SA 5067 www.urps.com.au Disclaimer The information contained in this Seed Consulting Services (Seed) report is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. Seed accepts no legal liability for the accuracy of field data, analytical results or mapping data provided as part of this report or for any associated loss in productivity, business or such like through third part use of this data. Seed accepts no legal liability for failure of third parties to obtain any necessary government or other agency permits or approvals with respect to any issue raised in this report where approvals may be required. The material and opinions in this report may include the views or recommendations of third parties, which may not necessarily reflect the views of Seed, or indicate Seed’s recommendation regarding a particular course of action. Seed does not provide advice of an investment or commercial valuation nature. Seed does not accept any liability for investment decisions made on the basis of environmental or other information provided in this report. This plan should be cited as: Resilient Hills and Coasts (2016). Resilient Hills and Coasts: Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island Region. A report prepared for Alexandrina Council on behalf of Resilient Hills and Coasts project partners by Seed Consulting Services and URPS. Proudly supported by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, SA Fire & Emergency Services Commission, Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board and Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board. Resilient Hills & Coasts Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island Region. Content Acknowledgement of Country ..........................................4 PART C - Kangaroo Island ...................................74 Acronyms .........................................................................5 Priority adaptation options ............................................75 Mayors’ Foreword ............................................................7 Agriculture ...........................................................................75 Executive Summary .........................................................8 Built coastal assets ..............................................................78 Emergency management ......................................................81 PART A - Context .................................................14 Essential services and transport infrastructure ....................84 Introduction ...................................................................15 PART D - The Region ...........................................88 The Resilient Hills and Coasts region ...........................18 Implementing the Plan .................................................88 How will climate change affect the region? ..................20 Regional priority adaptation options .....................................88 Overview ...............................................................................20 Opportunities .......................................................................94 Regional projections ............................................................22 Periodic review ....................................................................94 Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula ...................................23 Alignment with adaptation in the South Australian Kangaroo Island ...................................................................27 Murray-Darling Basin ..........................................................95 Ocean and Gulf waters ........................................................28 Open consultation ................................................................96 How has this plan been developed? ...............................30 Next steps ............................................................................98 Approach .............................................................................30 References ..................................................................100 Identifying priorities for adaptation planning ......................31 Glossary .......................................................................102 PART B - Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula ..36 Attachment A Priority adaptation options ............................................36 Workshop and focus group participants .....................104 Agriculture ...........................................................................36 Attachment B Climate-ready homes and buildings .....................................41 High vulnerability indicator summary .........................106 Coastal ecosystems ..............................................................44 Attachment C Community facilities and open space areas ..........................47 Adaptation options .......................................................107 Emergency management ......................................................50 Attachment D Infrastructure assets ............................................................54 Adaptation pathways analysis ....................................112 Landscape conservation ......................................................58 Built coastal assets ..............................................................62 Vulnerable members of the community .................................66 Water-dependent ecosystems ...............................................70 Acknowledgement of Country Project partners acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters of the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. We acknowledge the deep feelings of attachment and the relationship of Aboriginal people to country, and respect their ongoing custodianship. Photo: Courtesy of Alexandrina Council Acronyms AR5 – Fifth Assessment Report (released by the IPCC) BOM – Bureau of Meteorology CCIA – Climate Change in Australia CSIRO – Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation DEWNR – Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources ENSO – El Niño Southern Oscillation GCM – Global Climate Model or Global Circulation Model IOD – Indian Ocean Dipole IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IVA – Integrated Vulnerability Assessment LGA SA – Local Government Association of South Australia NRM – Natural Resources Management RCP – Representative Concentration Pathway RDA – Regional Development Australia RH&C – Resilient Hills and Coasts SACR – SA Climate-ready SAMDB – South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Mayors’ Foreword Photo: Courtesy of Mount Barker District Council 6 RH&C I Climate Change Adaptation Plan MAYORS’ FOREWORD Our changing climate presents significant challenges for our In particular, as a regional collective, we will further explore communities, economies and natural environment. We have the two key strategic themes of: a shared responsibility to act and to apply individual and • where we build - improving planning for, and collective effort and ingenuity to build the resilience of all management of, development in high risk areas within our region to respond and adapt to climate change. • what we build - providing leadership in climate-ready The Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island development. region will be warmer and drier with rising sea levels. We We are pleased to present this Adaptation Plan to guide know that there is great diversity across our communities, future regional-scale action. This plan represents input and our economies and our natural environments, and there is expertise gathered from across community, government, strength in this diversity. But there are still risks to manage business and academia and we extend our thanks to and opportunities to pursue, and we support a proactive everyone who has contributed to its development over the approach to working with our communities to explore and last two years. As a group we commit to transitioning this address both. plan into tangible action, and to embedding climate change The regional journey toward climate change mitigation and considerations into our everyday decision-making. As we adaptation has just begun, and this Plan and the research move forward into the implementation stage, we invite and and reports upon which it is built, represent significant steps encourage you to join us in taking positive action to build the in guiding regional action. We are committed to working climate resilience of our region. together to implement regional priorities and, to complement this, each of our councils will initiate local action. We are also committed to collaborating with state government agencies to ensure the best outcome for the region. Mayor Bill Spragg, Adelaide Hills Council Mayor Glen Rowlands, District Council of Yankalilla Mayor Keith Parkes, Alexandrina Council Mayor Peter Clements, Kangaroo Island Council Mayor Graham Philp, City of Victor Harbor Mayor Ann Ferguson, Mount Barker District Council 7 Executive Summary Photo: Courtesy of District Council