The Central Coast Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is calling on Central Coast Council to be more proactive in addressing the threat posed by climate change.
Convenor Mark Ellis said a recent report from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) into funding local councils highlighted climate change as an external factor that councils could not control.
“The report states that climate change should be addressed in a manner that accepts the serious impacts on the communities’ health, infrastructure and housing,” he said.
“Councils can have policies to mitigate their climate emissions and increase the liveability of suburbs with increased tree plantings to reduce the heat island impacts.
“The current business-as-usual approach within the Council and the constant paralysis by analysis of how to fund flooding, coastal erosion and tree planting will not address the accelerating effects of the climate crisis.
“To address climate change there needs to be deep structural changes to society.”
Ellis said the UNEP emissions gap report highlighted the difficult job of reducing the required Co2 emissions.
“IPART is correct to raise these concerns, as the question of funding is central to how climate adaptation is implemented,” he said.
“The first step councils can start with is by focussing their budget on climate positive actions like increasing budgets on green infrastructure.
“Central Coast Council only put forward $40,000 per annum to tree planting programs yet committed over a million towards a climate-destroying airport master plan at Warnervale.”
Ellis said numerous reports from the Lower Hunter and Central Coast Regional Environmental Management Strategy, Adapt NSW and Council’s own Greening Strategy over the past 15 years have highlighted impacts of higher temperatures across the coast and the increasing urban heat island effect.
“Although there has been no real action to address these reports, just more of the same development at all costs,” he said.
“It is clear from the response to the Austin Butler reserve surveys the community wants Council to do better when it comes to reducing tree loss and increasing planting trees to ameliorate the increasing heat impacts on our towns and villages.
“Will sanity prevail and more money be directed into climate adaptation, or will (it be) business as usual within the Council, continuing with the status quo of ineffectual planning laws that ignore the signs of increasing climate threats.”