Not Waving, Drowning: Can Local Government Policies on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Resilience Make a Difference?

Abstract

Climate change will increase the intensity, duration and/or frequency of some climate-related hazards. Responsibility for adapting to such impacts of climate change in Australia has, in the main, fallen on local governments which have paid varying degrees of attention to the issue. This paper takes an integrated approach to compare the climate adaptation and disaster resilience policies and plans of local governments of two low-lying coastal cities in Australia to understand whether (and how) local governments can make a difference. The findings indicate that local governments can significantly contribute to building resilience and adapting to climate-related hazards, however a number of factors such as the attitudes of local governments on climate change, environmental activism, and the recent experiences of climate-related disasters are instrumental for shaping a better local response. Local action also needs to be supported by a more integrated approach by all levels of government.

气候变化会加重气候相关灾害的强度、时长和/或频率。在澳大利亚，应对气候变化影响的责任主要落在地方政府肩上，地方政府对这一问题的关注度因地而异。本文采用综合方法比较澳大利亚两个低洼沿海城市政府应对气候变化和灾害恢复的政策和规划，以便确定地方政府能否以及如何有效应对。研究结果显示，地方政府可以在建设恢复力和应对气候相关灾害方面发挥重要作用，不过较好的在地应对有赖于以下几个因素：地方政府对气候变化和环境保护运动的态度，以及近期气候相关灾害的经历。地方行动也需要各级政府以更为整合的方式提供支持。

Keywords:

• Disaster resilience
• local climate change adaptation
• policy analysis
• Gold Coast
• Sunshine Coast

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive comments.