The Victorian Government’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan is doomed to failure, according to Victoria’s leading environment organisation Environment Victoria.
The plan, released this afternoon, is intended to plan for the impacts of climate change upon government, business, the community and the natural environment.
Environment Victoria’s Safe Climate Campaign Manager Victoria McKenzie-McHarg said the group was disappointed by the plan.
“The Victorian Government is trying to plan for climate change without recognising the need to reduce the risk of climate change in the first place”, said Ms. McKenzie-McHarg.
“Increased heatwaves and drought, more extreme flooding and observed sea level rise are already being felt across Victoria, but the government’s plan only recognises these threats as problems that might arise in future. The government simply can’t plan properly for events they aren’t willing to admit are already happening.”
Ms. McKenzie-McHarg said that the plan had failed to achieve what it needed to.
“The document is not so much a plan for action as it is a literature review of the government’s previous activities and those of other levels of government. Given the significant lack of adaptation action in the adaptation plan, it’s doomed to failure.”
Environment Victoria called on the government to restart the process and get the plan right:
“Institutions such as the World Bank have recognised that we’re now on track to reach 4 degrees, and perhaps even as much as 6 degrees of warming globally. This will result in a world almost beyond recognition.
“It’s essential that the Victorian Government go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that can deal with the realities of climate change, and put some money on the table to achieve it.
“The Victorian Government has a responsibility to Victorians to protect them from extreme weather, heatwaves and drought. But they seem hell bent on making the climate problem worse not better.
“Brown coal expansion, blocking renewable energy and now a climate adaptation plan with no action are clear signs the Victorian Government still has its head in the sand on climate change.”
Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Safe Climate Campaign Manager – 0428 480 409