2019-06-11 P&E Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 1 - Environment Strategy

     Strategy 4.3: Manage the natural environment in a way that improves
     		            resilience to climate change

 Target                                                       Building ecosystem resilience requires a multi-pronged
                                                              approach shared amongst Council, community
 Ecosystem health of wetlands and riparian areas is           groups, research agencies and other government and
 improved.                                                    organisations. For Council this includes:

 The ecological resilience and capacity of the natural        •   helping to maintain and enhance important refugia
 environment to evolve and adapt to the predicted                 areas and landscape connectivity
 impacts of climate change is best supported though the       •   managing land use change and vegetation clearing
 maintenance and restoration of healthy, well-functioning         through the planning scheme and other regulations
 ecosystems. Healthy vegetated riparian areas provide for
 riverbank stability, improved water quality, and diversity   •   encouraging community partnerships with private
 and movement of species, amongst other benefits.                 landholders and community groups
                                                              •   acquiring and protecting key properties for
 Vegetation clearing within the headwater areas and               conservation, especially those that might facilitate
 sloping land of the Noosa Shire has resulted in erosion          retreat areas for species and habitats into the future
 of soil slipping into riparian areas. This has impacted
 both riparian function and water quality of the various      •   continuing to protect riparian buffer areas from
 catchments. It will also impact on the ability of these          vegetation clearing and development impacts
 ecosystems to deal with changes in water level, storm            through the planning scheme
 surge and climate.                                           •   prioritising those critical biodiversity areas that
                                                                  are likely to persist into the future as the climate
 Climate change will see changes in ecosystems and plant          changes, including native vegetation along
 and animal distributions, exacerbating threats such as           waterways.
 weeds and increasing impacts on threatened species and
 ecological communities.




40