World Environment Day
Author: David Royston-Jennings, Regional Risk Coordinator, LGMS
Since 1974, World Environment Day has been celebrated annually on 5 June and is the most renowned day for environmental action. It provides a collective focal point for governments, businesses and individuals from all walks of life to take strong and meaningful action towards sustainability.
Above all, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change, and recognises that global change requires a response from the global community. It encourages individuals to think about the way they consume, pushes businesses to develop greener operations, demands government safeguard wild spaces, and much much more.
Councils across the State are leading by example and taking action to understand and minimise the impacts of their operations, activities and services on the environment whilst protecting, conserving and enhancing the local environmental values that are fundamental to the health and function of ecosystems.
Key components of this local leadership include the integration of sustainability and environmental objectives in corporate, operational and strategic land use planning, pursuit of emission reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, investment in waste reduction and resource recovery, the protection of natural resources and biodiversity and providing an appropriate and effective community pollution control and enforcement function.
However, the most difficult and daunting environmental issue facing most Councils relates to the implications of climate change. A variable climate has always been part and parcel of the Queensland landscape, the impacts of unmitigated climate change on the frequency and intensity of the extreme weather events, infrastructure, natural resources, human health and our economy is alarming and urgent whole-of-society action is necessary to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future.
Whilst there remains a degree of uncertainty regarding the magnitude and timing of climate-related impacts on the environment, there is an increasing level of certainty regarding the types of risk and the nature of the associated exposures that are amplified by climate change. Councils are at the forefront of responding to these risks, including higher temperatures, sea level rise, increased frequency and/or intensity of severe weather events and other natural hazards. These occurrences all present serious challenges to local governments and will undoubtedly test our capacity to adapt.
The LGAQ deliver a number of voluntary programs that are intended to support Queensland Councils in their response to global heating-related risks, such as QCoast2100, which supports the development of a risk-based adaptation strategy to respond to the impact of global heating on coastal hazards.
In partnership with the Queensland Government, the LGAQ have also established the Queensland Climate Resilient Councils (QCRC), which is a five-year program aimed at supporting local governments to plan for and respond to climate change. This program acknowledges that whilst there is a lot we can all do to mitigate the impacts of global warming, local governments can lead and support their communities and local business to forward plan through adopting a risk based approach.
For more information on the QHRC please refer to their website.
Insurers and reinsurers are increasingly concerned about the implications of global heating on the global insurance market, including the future capacity of the market to provide cover that is sufficiently responsive and cost effective to the anticipated impacts on exposures. Indeed, the insurance market already considers that Queensland is already experiencing impacts from global heating, and is highly exposed to further significant impacts. In this context, pricing and availability for property covers in northern Queensland indicates the market is already subject to sustainability pressure, with some insurers beginning to factor climate risk in macro decisions as well as at the individual property level.
A Climate Resilience Strategy has recently been adopted by the LGMS Boards to provide a framework for the schemes to identify, consider and respond to the implications of climate-related risks for members’ cover. This Strategy will guide the development of future initiatives and actions by the mutuals in a way that is responsive to member’s needs, circumstances and objectives
In the lead up to this World Environment Day, it is worth remembering every individual action and decision made today has implications for our environment and future generations. A brighter, sustainable and prosperous future is possible if we all play our part.
We are all in this together!