Actions

Natural environment actions

The actions are designed to respond to the identified needs (above) and meet this Plan’s short-term objectives. They are complementary and together lay the foundation for how adaptation should be approached across the sector.

The lead responsibility to implement these actions sits primarily with DELWP.  In developing guidance and tools, DELWP will collaborate with Traditional Owners, other government agencies, non-government organisations and the community to ensure that they are effective and fit-for-purpose.

Improve our understanding of climate risks and vulnerabilities

Four actions will be undertaken to improve our understanding of climate change risks and vulnerabilities.

Climate vulnerability assessments related to natural environment assets will be updated with the latest climate model data (Action 1.1).
This will allow land managers and policy makers to better identify areas of the landscape that will be most impacted by climate change. Updated datasets are also a useful tool in communicating the impacts of climate change with stakeholders, including the community.

DELWP will identify areas where natural assets could migrate under climate change (Action 1.2). For instance, coastal vegetation is likely to migrate inland in response to rising sea levels and there is evidence that some bird species are migrating to higher altitudes.

DELWP will identify how a changing climate will impact on our fire regimes (Action 1.3).

Work will also be taken to identify key research gaps for which additional information would enhance climate-adaptated decision making (Action 1.4). This will help environmental managers to determine research priorities to pursue through research collaborations.

Help to prioritise adaptation actions and focus efforts

Four actions will be implemented to help prioritise adaptation actions and focus efforts to improve their effectiveness.

A framework for monitoring and assessing emerging threats will be developed (Action 2.1). As the climate changes and the natural environment responds, it will be important to detect new threats as early as possible to provide the best chance of successfully intervening. The framework will outline what should be monitored, when and how.

A toolbox will be developed that describes what tools are suitable for managing uncertainty in the natural environment system and how they can be applied (Action 2.2).

A strategy will be developed to help determine areas that are likely to be impacted by climate change and to identify the actions that would be most effective at enhancing ecological resilience (Action 2.3).

A policy will be developed to help guide novel environmental management actions such as ecological engineering and genetic interventions (Action 2.4). The policy will define novel environmental management actions, describe where they should be applied and how risks should be managed.

Create a framework to support climate-adapted decision making

Three actions will be implemented to create a framework to support climate-adapted decision making.

Guidance will be prepared on applying adaptation pathways in the natural environment context (Action 3.1). This will build on work undertaken by the Southern Slopes Climate Change Adaptation Research Partnership between Victoria’s Catchment Management Authorities and universities. It will describe what the adaptation pathways approach is, when it is useful to be applied and how to do it. Cross-sector collaboration will be an essential part of developing the guidance.

The adaptation pathways guidance will be trialed (Action 3.2). The trial will be developed and undertaken in partnership with Traditional Owners and in close collaboration with affected stakeholders such as the local community, local Councils, Catchment Management Authorities, Landcare and other local environment groups and portfolio agencies.

A foundational guide to transformational adaptation will be developed (Action 3.3). The guide will describe the conditions under which transformational adaptation should be explored, identify the contexts in Victoria which meet these conditions and identify learnings from previous transformational change experiences.

Support and enable practitioners to better approach decision making in the context of a changing climate and increased uncertainty

A set of eight actions will be implemented to support practitioners to better approach decision making in the context of a changing climate and increasing uncertainty.

The climate adaptation lens is an important tool to frame adaptation decision making. Actions will be taken to ensure the climate adaptation lens is:

• integrated into decision support tools (Action 4.1)
• considered in the development of the Whole of Sector Bushfire Strategy and the renewal of the Victorian Waterway Management Strategy (Action 4.2)
• incorporated into current methodologies and projects where possible (Action 4.3)
• integrated into bushfire preparedness, response and recovery (Action 4.4)
• incorporated into behaviour change initiatives (Action 4.5)
• promoted and further developed through pilot projects (action 4.6).

Opportunities will be identified to work across DELWP and with partner agencies to integrate adaptation consideration into existing Monitoring Evaluation Research and Improvement frameworks (MERI) (Action 4.7)  Adaptation depends on learning and responding effectively to lessons learned, as well as experience, changing circumstance and new knowledge. It will also be deliberately trialling new approaches and being prepared to fail. Enhancing learning in MERI will be a key focus of this action.

To facilitate learning more broadly, communities of practice will be supported and promoted.  These communities of practice will facilitate knowledge sharing and application of best-practice climate adaptation within the natural environment system (Action 4.8).

Support Traditional Owner outcomes and objectives

Traditional Owners will be supported to explore climate impacts on their cultural values (Action 5.1). The type of support will depend on the needs identified by Traditional Owner groups. This could include providing access to data and information about climate projections or assisting with research into climate risks to specific cultural assets.

Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement

DELWP is committed to building a strong evidence-based and learning culture. This is critical to supporting adaptation, as well as strategic decision making, public sector accountability, efficient and effective management and continuous improvement.

A fit-for-purpose monitoring, evaluation and learning framework will be developed within year one to guide the implementation of this Plan. The framework will include an outcome logic model or theory of change, key evaluation questions, data collection methods (both quantitative and qualitative) and a strategy for improvement and learning.