Climate change impacts, particularly sea level rise and increased risk and vulnerability to coastal hazards, is now an urgent issue for many low lying communities across the Pacific region. For some communities, complete relocation is the only viable risk mitigation option. The project Climate Change Adaptation Plan for Choiseul Bay Township, Solomon Islands, is an inspiring example of a community with a bold vision to relocate their existing provincial capital from the current location on Taro Island, to safer ground on the adjacent mainland island of Choiseul.
Working in collaboration with the Australian Government’s Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) programme, a team of coastal engineers, environmental scientists and planners have assisted the Solomon Island’s Government and the Choiseul Provincial Government to prepare an integrated climate change risk and adaptation plan to build a more climate resilient township in Choiseul Bay. The project team, led by BMT WBM, assessed how climate change impacts may affect Taro Island and the new township site now and in the future. A Climate Change Adaptation Plan was prepared, the centrepiece of which is the relocation of the provincial capital from Taro Island to the adjacent mainland.
The Climate Change Adaptation Plan maps out a path for managing the risks of natural hazards through specific actions addressing risks to existing development and communities, supported by a vision, a strategic plan and a planning scheme to guide future development of the new provincial capital and to manage transitional uses on Taro Island in the interim period.
This seminar will provide an overview of this multi-award winning project. The presentation will identify the critical success factors to support effective climate change adaptation planning. This includes the need to integrate science and technical outputs of risk and vulnerability assessments into responsive planning outcomes, communicating complex messages of science and risk to the community in a simple way, and engendering community ownership to ensure successful future support and implementation.
The seminar will be followed by discussion where comments and questions from attendees will be welcomed.
For more information download the flyer.
Members can access the presentation kindly provided by the speaker here (*6.6 MB attachment)
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