Local response to climate change brings hope: Senator Wong

In a presentation during her recent visit to Poland for COP14, Senator the Hon. Penny Wong paid tribute to ICLEI and the local government response to climate change.

At the ICLEI Local Government Climate Sessions, a parallel event to the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in December, Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water, acknowledged the work of ICLEI to ensure climate change stays on the national and local political agendas.

Senator Wong said that while climate change is an enormous challenge for the world community, the Australian Government recognises that action is needed not just at international and national levels but also at a local level.

'We have sought to work with ICLEI since the election [and] Australian councils have responded enthusiastically to the Cities for Climate Protection program, with some 234 delivering an aggregate reduction in greenhouse emissions of 18 million tonnes,' she said.

In her presentation during the Adaptation Session on 10 December 2007, Senator Wong outlined the Australian Government’s approach to climate change, which works on three fronts: reducing emissions, adapting the climate change we cannot avoid, and being part of an effective global response.

'There is a growing realisation of the imperative to focus on adapting to the impacts of climate change that we are already starting to experience. Climate change is already with us; it’s already happening,' she said.

Senator Wong also called for more to be done to build on work of government and ICLEI: 'Adaptation is an area where substantially more resources need to be devoted at a national and international level.'

Some of the adaptation issues Australia is already confronting include increases in average temperatures and substantial rainfall decline, as well as longer and more intense periods of drought. Issues affecting local governments include prospective sea level rises in coastal areas, increases in extreme weather events and decreases in the amount of potable water.

'These sorts of issues present real challenges to decision makers and I have to commend Australian local government as really being very keen to understand their communities’ risks and being prepared for the downside,' said Senator Wong.

Owing to the sheer scale of the Australian continent, Senator Wong also stressed that 'partnerships with local governments, local communities on adaptation are critical'.

She said that the Australian Government is 'really very grateful to ICLEI and to local governments in Australia for the proactive way in which they’ve approached this issue'.

Senator Wong commended the way that many local communities have been ahead of governments in their understanding and response to climate change: 'It is a great cause for optimism and hope that many communities are seeking to deal with this issue in their own way,' she said.

'From a national government perspective I think our role is really to foster that, to support it and to resource it in the ways that we can, and that certainly will continue to be one of the areas where we devote resources.'

A podcast of Senator Wong's presentation is available from the ICLEI Local Government Climate Sessions website.

COP 14 photograph by Martin Brennan