Overview
The Liveable & Just project was initiated with the Discussion Paper:
Improving the capacity of local governments to respond to climate change in ways that are healthy, sustainable, and just.
Feedback from the Discussion Paper led to a series of six workshops across Victoria. The workshops covered a range of crucial issues, including the impacts of and responses to heatwaves and bushfires, pressures on councils and communities due to rising costs of water, energy and transport, health and mental health implications, and the heightened vulnerability of target groups in the community such as infants, the aged, mentally ill, homeless, and those under housing stress.
In response to workshop outcomes and recommendations, the
Liveable & Just Toolkit was developed to indicate key actions councils can take to integrate social equity issues into efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The toolkit offers practical and meaningful ways that local governments can:
- Make the case for action on the social and equity impacts of climate change
- Identify who is most vulnerable and do something about it
- Engage effectively with the community on climate change
- Understand community resilience to climate change and ways to strengthen it
- Integrate responses to the social and equity impacts of climate change across council.
The toolkit is designed for practical use by those in roles of varying seniority within the local government sphere and across a range of council activities including sustainability, health and wellbeing, community development, and planning.
The Liveable & Just project was funded by the
Victorian Government’s Sustainability Fund under the
Victorian Local Sustainability Accord. The project is an initiative of the Victorian Local Governance Association in partnership with the
Brotherhood of St Laurence and the
Department of Sustainability and Environment.
The Liveable & Just Toolkit was prepared by project consultants the
McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing (Melbourne University).
Strategic Plan
The VLGA undertaking the Liveable & Just project is informed by 3 sections of the organisation’s Strategic Plan:
- A.1: Local government leadership, which states the objective to support local governments to provide leadership in their communities
- B.1: Engagement and Empowerment, with the objective to assist communities, groups, and individuals to engage and work effectively to achieve high levels of participation and engagement between local governments and their communities
- B.2: Planning and Place, which states the objective to strengthen the capacities of communities to plan for sustainable future
VLGA Approach
The VLGA's response to the Victorian Government Green Paper on Climate Change focused on the social and equity implications of climate change on local communities.
Current Activity
Liveable & Just: A toolkit for local governments to address the social and equity impacts of climate change, was formally launched in March 2010.
Parliamentary Secretary for Environment, Water and Climate Change, Michael Crutchfield, launched the toolkit in Melbourne on 2 March 2010.
The toolkit was also launched at Mansfield Shire Council by Mayor Cr Tom Ingpen, on 9 March 2010.
The launch events comprised a hands-on session with the toolkit, for councillors, council officers, and community representatives to see how best to use the toolkit in their work, and to integrate the social and equity aspects of climate change across local government activity.
Further workshop events around the Liveable & Just toolkit will be facilitated by VLGA throughout 2010. More details on dates will follow shortly.
Contact
Policy & Project Officer
Dr Rebecca Barlow
T: +61 3 9349 7941
E:
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