Community Resilience to Climate Change Theory, Research Section IV Resilience in Practice

SECTION IV RESILIENCE IN PRACTICE Existing climate adaptation resilience plans Practical applications of resilience thinking to climate planning 161 Resilience in Practice As , of resilience has , organizational mission statements , natural resource management strategies , and conversations about climate change . At times , resilience is barely interpreted by those who call for it it is offered only as a nebulous antidote to human and ecological suffering . When clearly defined but in a way that is too , the invocation of resilience may alienate outsiders and limit practical partnerships . In other cases , city bureaus and community groups may be participating in work that very much aligns with resilience thinking , not using the normative language and thus go unrecognized . Part of engaging with climate change adaptation and resilience solutions is taking stock of what is out there how cities have previously presented resilience ( or not ) in practice what kinds of solutions or partnerships have been attempted and what lessons have been learned . While theory provides us a view of the ideal scenario , only practice can teach us what works , what does not , and what we might do differently within constraints . In this section , you will review existing urban climate adaptation plans that address the need for resilience , either explicitly or implicitly . This should reveal the extent to which some of the major theoretical concepts and evaluative indicators have been taken up in practice . Furthermore , some practical interventions and outcomes are explored through case study research . Finally , an article by Douglas calls for a common language of resilience to facilitate collaboration between researchers and practitioners . While not directly addressing climate change issues , this sentiment has meaningful implications for resilience advocates broadly . 162

READINGS INCLUDED Open access articles Full text included Your city climate action plan or equivalent , if available . If your city has no such plan , or if you are teaching within Portland , Oregon , we suggest City of Portland , Climate Action Plan ( 2015 ) 2015 ) Measuring resilience is not enough we must apply the research . Researchers and practitioners need a common language to make this happen . Ecology and Society , 20 ( van , 2013 ) Translating disaster resilience into spatial planning practice in South Africa Challenges and champions . Jamba Journal of Disaster Risk Studies , Jacobs , Moyle , 2016 ) Ensuring resilience of natural resources under exposure to extreme climate events . Resources , 20 . ALTERNATIVE SELECTIONS Full text not included May be accessible through your university library or elsewhere , Brown , Nelson , Tompkins , 201 ) Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change Resilience implications of policy responses to climate change . Wiley Reviews Climate Change , Hughes , 2015 ) A of urban climate change adaptation planning in the Urban Climate , Brink , Rivera , 2013 ) Planning for climate change in urban areas from theory to practice . Journal of Cleaner Production , 50 ( 163

STUDENT EXERCISES ( Choose an existing municipal or regional climate resilience plan ( or adaptation plan ) Read through and look for explicit references to focal areas of risk , exposure , or vulnerability proposed solutions to problems ( Prepare a 10 minute presentation answering the following questions How does this plan refer to and identify resilience ?

For whom or what is resilience prioritized ?

Does this plan seem to view resilience and vulnerability through an engineering , ecological , ecosystem services , or other lens ?

How , from your perspective , does the plan resilience ?

What would you change in the plan ?

What is missing ( if anything ) FOR INSTRUCTORS CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES ( If possible , we suggest that you extend this section over multiple weeks and invite local practitioners to speak to the class about their work . Ask students to write a short ( paragraph ) reflective exercise after each guest speaker presentation , explaining how theoretical concepts from resilience literature might be relevant to the speaker practical work . 164

Measuring Resilience is Not Enough We Must Apply the Research . Researchers and Practitioners Need a Common Language to Make This Happen by Douglas This article was originally published in Ecology Society , 20 ( 2015 . Imp This work is licensed under a Creative Commons International ( license ABSTRACT This article is contributed by a practitioner in the area of health systems strengthening who also has a background in resilience research . The intent ofthe article is to offer constructive reflection on the disconnect between the insights of resilience research and the application of those insights through development assistance . The primary reason for the existence of this communication block is that resilience research findings are not often translated in a format that is useful to those implementing resilience promotion projects . As a result , do not usually review relevant research to guide their interventions . Resilience researchers and practitioners need a common language , one that arises from effective community engagement . Keywords community resilience development assistance research to action RESILIENCE IS EXPERIENCED AS A SOCIAL NARRATIVE , NOT AS A SET OF NUMBERS Although details vary from place to place , wherever you travel in the world , sooner or later you are likely to hear a story about resilience . Whether it is bouncing back from adversity or bouncing forward to a new normal that is enhanced in some way relative to the time before a traumatic event , examples of resilience can be found everywhere , from individuals and households to communities , organizations , and governments . Some researchers have characterized resilience by focusing on the absence of a particular pathology , such as stress disorder , as noted by and ( 2007 ) Other researchers have explored resilience as a personality trait , or as a quantified adjustment in a group of people after a potentially traumatic event . The adjustment would usually be compared to that of another group that experienced the same event exposure but had a different adjustment score ( 2012 ) It is worth noting that many definitions of resilience , such as those listed above , are closely linked to a specific research methodology . This is convenient from a research perspective but may limit understanding ofthe particular resilience characteristics of the communities being studied . A broader , more holistic definition of the one adopted for this proposed by and ( 2008 ) resilience is defined as the capacity of individuals , families , communities , systems , and institutions to anticipate , withstand judiciously engage with catastrophic events experiences actively making meaning with the goal of maintaining normal function without fundamental loss of identity . This definition emphasizes the need to understand the catastrophic event from the perspective of members of the affected community , especially in terms of people experiences relating to meaning and identity . This information is likely to come in the form of a story or narrative that has meaning to the community rather than through a specific analytical or conceptual lens . Following are several examples of community resilience that were verbally relayed to me as part of my work in providing technical assistance for global development projects . These case examples were not investigated within any specific analytical framework . The point here is that they are all conceptually consistent with the definition of resilience offered by and is , each describes experiences of a community that actively responded to an adverse event , and essentially maintained normal functioning and , ostensibly , their collective identity . To avoid being captured and sold into slavery by the Fon ethnic group of the Kingdom in the century , the tribe literally moved their entire village into a lake . According to the guide who our pirogue through the village , the knew that the Fon belief system prevented them from attacking them in a body of water so they begin building their homes , and eventually stores , schools , clinics , a church , in Lake . In other words , their thoughtful reflection on the threat facing them and their 165

collective willingness to adapt to a totally different way of life is what allowed them to survive . The village , which still exists today and is on the tentative list for World Heritage Sites , was named , which in the language roughly translates to saved community . The population in the southern region of known as the has been living through a civil war for three decades , experiencing periodic bursts of violence from the ongoing conflict between the local separatist movement and the national government in . Yet while the media tend to fixate on the turmoil and unrest , when I visited the shortly after the breakdown of negotiations with the Senegalese government in early 2005 I saw armed soldiers smiling and joking with each other amidst an otherwise typical backdrop of Senegalese village and town life . A local man from the ethnic group of the explained that while the people of the region had suffered , the conflict actually reinforced their cultural identity as a distinct group with an egalitarian structure and a sense of pride in resisting centralized authority , which is a narrative extending back to the time of French colonial rule . Once having spanned most of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa , the pastoralist are now having to adapt to decreasing access to land due to environmental preservation , tourism , or other pressures , leading to frequent of the as a dying culture or as a tribe struggling to survive . Yet , while working on a research project in Dar es Salaam from June to August 2006 , I also saw another side of the story , in the forms of traditionally dressed men with machetes and staffs amidst the pedestrian traffic of jeans , business suits , and to work . The seem to have gained an impressive market share in the security guard business , leveraging their historical reputation as skilled warriors . While it is certainly no justification for forced migration , the ability of the to adapt to an urban livelihood while retaining their distinctive identity also makes it difficult to the dying culture narrative . Haiti Traditional religious beliefs were suppressed when Haiti became a French slave colony in the century and Haitians were forced to convert to Christianity . In response , many Haitians nominally accepted the new faith to avoid persecution , simultaneously renaming traditional deities as Christian figures , including God and the saints . In 2007 I had the opportunity to see the expression of this religious syncretism while visiting du with an undergraduate student research team during the Catholic celebration in honor of also happens to symbolize the voodoo spirit . Inside the church a crowd sang hymns and listened to passages from the Bible during Mass . At the same time , just outside the church doors and extending through the streets was a crowd of voodoo adherents with thousands of lit candles , chanting , drumming , dancing , and performing various rituals including animal sacrifices and bathing in a mud pool in the center of town . The Catholic practices and icons that were once imposed upon the country have now become a source of prayer and celebration for those still adhering to their traditional beliefs . To deal with and prevent shortages of fish as a food source , chiefs in Fijian coastal villages traditionally established periodic taboos , or bans , on fishing in certain areas to replenish the fisheries . Several local fishermen explained to me that this approach worked well in the past when the fishing vessels were small , stayed closer to shore , and were piloted by other islanders . With the advent of modern commercial fishing , often done in deeper waters by foreign vessels , the traditional taboos became markedly less effective and now the only feasible means of regulating fishing is through maritime policing by the national government . However , rather than managing this effort independently , the national government chose to integrate the traditional practice of taboo into the effort , thereby gaining widespread support and collaboration from communities across the country . While fish shortages are an ongoing challenge in , this method has already shown positive results in some parts of the country ( and Hughes 2012 ) RESEARCH SHOULD HELP TRANSLATE COMMUNITY NARRATIVES INTO INSIGHTS Human resilience is intrinsically linked to the social , natural , and built environments in which people live . Narratives provide a contextual richness that is critical for investigating the phenomenon . A clear analytical framework can sort through the details of these stories to derive insights that may help promote resilience , whether within the same community or elsewhere . For instance , if we refer to a community resilience , are we talking about its ability to maintain certain attributes during times of adversity , such as a sense of cultural identity , psychosocial wellbeing , access to food , or something else ?

Or are we referring to its ability to modify some characteristics in order to adapt to a changing environment or circumstances , such as moving to a new location or reinventing a belief system ?

166 Due to the wide variety of interpretations of resilience , the appropriate analytical framework should clarify what is actually meant by resilience resilience by whom or of how it may be enhanced . The framework has value when it helps break down and analyze a social narrative of resilience , much as a literary critic might assess the key elements of a novel . In the context of human resilience , if an adverse event is the conflict , a useful analytical framework helps us investigate the factors that influence the characters abilities to cope or adapt . While some or traits or characteristics ( 1996 ) such as genetic traits , are more or less fixed and can not be changed , others , such as practices , social support , cognitive interventions , coping ( 2012 ) and social cohesion or connection ( and 2010 ) may have prescriptive value for shaping interventions and possibly public education . It is this latter category , of what could be termed malleable or transferable factors , that captures the interest of practitioners in the health and development community . By understanding salient factors that promote resilience in a particular context , we gain ideas about which ones might help resilience in other groups , locations , circumstances , or adversities . If , for instance , we want to examine the examples of community resilience narratives mentioned above to find insights that might be relevant elsewhere , selecting a suitable analytical is a critical first step . One useful construct is the notion of resilience pivots that was introduced by and ( 2011 ) to highlight elements of a particular community or group that remain constant through an adverse event . If we were to apply this lens to the example , we could investigate whether continuity , and perhaps even reinforcement , of the cultural identity as an independent , egalitarian community in the region helped that population cope with the separatist conflict . Similarly , the resilience pivot concept may also help describe how the incorporation of the traditional cultural practice of taboo in temporarily banning fishing in certain areas of is currently helping the country respond to and prevent the depletion of its marine resources from overfishing . et al . 2010 ) articulated wow transformational change at a local or specific level can contribute to resilience at a larger scale or in a broader context . Looking at the resilience narrative from , this view might support the idea that the decision of the to move their home into a lake was a transformational change that ultimately allowed them to survive as a group . Similarly the Haitians completely redefined their religious icons during the French colonial period in order to retain their ability to openly practice their faith , while an increasing number reinvented their livelihood from herding livestock in the countryside to guarding homes and offices in a major urban center in order to continue to survive and provide for their families in a changing environment . In each example we see a glimpse of how the right analytical framework and research questions may help guide practitioners in building resilience , especially when preparing for similar types of adverse events . The question is whether the insights from this type of analytical research can be effectively to strengthen resilience in individuals , communities , and populations . If so , the magnitude of the potential benefits creates an ethical imperative to do so . In this respect a quote from Leonardo is fitting I have been impressed with the urgency of doing . Knowing is not enough we must apply . Being willing is not enough we must do ( Suh 2005 ) OPPORTUNITIES TO APPLY ANALYTICAL RESILIENCE RESEARCH ARE GROWING GLOBALLY It is encouraging to see that many governments and organizations have taken such an interest in resilience in recent years and have raised its priority on the social agenda , both in terms of domestic efforts and development aid for other countries . This increased focus on resilience is especially visible in initiatives to help communities prepare for natural disasters and climate change . A Google search in August 2011 with results for the words resilience plus the name of each of the countries listed at a references to or initiatives in at least eight out of the top ten search results for each country . For and , it was all of the top ten search results . In monetary terms , initiatives in these same five countries account for nearly US 300 million in approved development assistance funds since 2003 . This is according to the database compiled by Climate Funds Update ( ajoint initiative of the Overseas Development Institute and the Heinrich Boll Foundation , two independent think tanks based in the UK and Germany , respectively . Of note , all of the associated funding sources list resilience promotion as a key objective or priority on their respective websites . According to the same database , the top ten country funding sources have collectively invested nearly US 31 billion on climate change worldwide through development assistance initiatives since again , each one of the listed funding sources includes explicit references to resilience promotion on their websites . Although these projects and investments represent only a subset of the myriad initiatives worldwide for promoting resilience as part of efforts to help communities and societies adapt to climate change , there are several valuable takeaway points , including ( climate 167

change adaptation is a priority for many government and health and social development organizations ( resilience is increasingly seen as part and parcel of climate change adaptation efforts and ( lots of time , money , and labor are being invested in promoting resilience globally . Furthermore , the general consensus among the scientific community that there will be a gradual increase in at least some types of extreme weather events ( Alley et al . 2007 ) is a strong indication that these types of resilience promotion efforts will continue and possibly increase into the foreseeable future . BOTH RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS HAVE ROLES TO PLAY IN BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE Given the substantial financial represented by many of these efforts to strengthen resilience , naturally the funding institutions and agencies will invest considerable time and energy into careful , thoughtful planning and into developing appropriate mechanisms to monitor implementation progress . of projects and programs will pay close attention to the level of quality and completion of planned infrastructure , the average increases in income among local poor , and the square kilometers of mangroves , and other key performance indicators , as they should . Some initiatives may even estimate the expected benefits in terms helping communities cope with severe weather events or other effects of climate change . Whether or not these are appropriate or meaningful measures of resilience is less clear . This is where analytical resilience research has a key role to play . To start , a review of relevant research articles and case studies may he practitioners who implement resilience programs to clarify their own definition of resilience and to identify examples of factors that have been demonstrated to promote resilience in similar communities or circumstances . Even taking the first step of translating resilience as an abstract concept into a specific , measurable framework with concrete examples may yield valuable insights for designing and implementing a project or program . Similarly , practitioners may benefit from existing tools , such as those listed on the Resilience Alliance website ( when thinking about how to practically assess the resilience of systems and develop strategies to enhance it . Thoughtful community engagement is also critical to ensuring that the planned resilience initiatives complement and do not undermine preferences , norms , and behaviors . Local residents understand how their neighbors think and behave in a way that could potentially take outsiders years to learn . Accessing that knowledge and enlisting the support of key community stakeholders is ly important for initiatives addressing climate change , since the proposed changes are often immediate while the anticipated consequences may be far into the future . Also , communities may have different views about which factors will be most important for their own resilience . In some cases , they may agree that what is needed most are more retaining walls or restoration of coastal mangroves , but in other cases it might be something completely different . Yet the potential value of drawing from the available research and resources and seeking substantive input from communities to design and implement these initiatives , these steps seem to be frequently omitted , or addressed only perfunctorily . Because a large portion of development assistance funding is delivered through projects with predetermined objectives and , there may be insufficient time or insufficient contract flexibility for implementing agencies to work with communities to develop a shared framework for assessing and building resilience . Although stakeholder engagement or the equivalent is almost guaranteed to be included as a contract requirement for many of these projects , the timelines and pressure to commence implementation as soon as possible mean that the de facto intent of this step is often to get endorsement or from the appropriate local leaders . Hiring local staff to lead or guide project implementation can ameliorate , but not eliminate , these limitations . The major risk of this type of superficial embrace of resilience as a concept is that we may end up with and initiatives that ultimately miss their mark because they lack a coherent , design or are out of step with local customs and context . As et al . 2008 ) note , for instance , one critical limitation of many initiatives to enhance resilience in Africa through infrastructure is that they tend to focus on , projects that fail to take into account the key drivers of change in systems , including the ecosystem , people and technology , local knowledge , and property rights . INCREASING THE PRACTICAL IMPACTS OF RESILIENCE RESEARCH DOES NOT NEED TO BE COMPLICATED The key question is how we can translate insights from resilience research into proactive efforts led by communities to enhance factors or characteristics . There will likely never be a single , approach , but acknowledging that this is important would be a start . There is room for improvement within both the researcher and practitioner communities . Although some researchers primary objective may be to contribute to the academic body of knowledge on resilience , a worthy secondary objective would be to help guide efforts to translate that knowledge into actions that improve people lives . If practitioners without a research background are to draw meaningful insights from academic articles about resilience , researchers may want to 168

comment briefly on some of the potential implications of their findings in terms of how they might be applied in human communities . A good example of this is the work done by Brian Walker and David Salt in their books Resilience Thinking ( 2006 ) and Resilience Practice ( 2012 ) which provide practical guidance on how to understand and apply concepts of resilience in settings . It would also be useful to apply this type of approach to human resilience , using examples like the study by et al . 2007 , as cited in Walker and Salt 2012 ) on the psychosocial transition in , which is briefly referenced in the latter book . On the implementation side , funders of development projects have a key role to play . Beginning with the initial design , development assistance contracts that seek to enhance human resilience could recommend or require the to review the relevant resilience literature or resources and identify any analytical or findings that may be useful . For example , a project team focusing on natural disaster resilience in the South Pacific may , as a result of reviewing the case study compiled by and Foley ( 2011 ) about the 2009 tsunami in American , think more carefully about how to most effectively engage indigenous institutions through a national emergency response plan . The Workbook for Practitioners prepared by the et al . 2010 ) while not designed for disaster preparedness per se , provides an worksheet for stakeholder mapping of local formal and informal institutions . funders of resilience projects would do well to allow for an emergent contract design in which some of the specific objectives and approaches are initially kept broad so they can be refined through consultation with the relevant communities . While the funder will often pay for monitoring and evaluation personnel to track implementation progress and estimate the impact attributable specifically to the project investment , this information may be of little value to the local community and will quickly lose relevance once the project has been completed . There is also a need for projects to invest time , money , and personnel into engaging with relevant local institutions , such as ministries of health , universities , or other organizations , to develop monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that are meaningful and useful for them . As Walker and Salt point out ( 201253 ) resilience practice is not so much about producing a single best system description as it is about creating a process whereby the system description is constantly revisited , reiterated , and fed into adaptive THE NEED FOR APPLIED RESILIENCE RESEARCH WILL CONTINUE TO GROW As global interest in resilience continues to grow , whether related to climate change adaptation or other events , there will be increasing demand to translate what we know about resilience into practical action in order to strengthen it . Disaster relief and humanitarian response efforts will continue to include more language about resilience in some cases , project funding proposals may even require it . As this happens , it will be important for practitioners to make sure resilience is notjust a referenced in purpose statements and project plans , but a holistic view of how communities respond to adversity . Some interventions designed to enhance communities ability to cope with extreme weather events may involve changes that are easy to observe , but the psychosocial and factors should not be overlooked . The only way to make sure this happens is to actively engage local communities , notjust through perfunctory consultations or from key leaders at the beginning , but throughout planning , implementation , and assessment . Insights from the literature on community resilience and available resources , such as those compiled by the Resilience Alliance , can help practitioners think critically and strategically about how to do this . Although these changes may in some cases require more time , effort , and flexibility in development assistance contracts , it is the only way to ensure that these efforts actually benefit the communities they affect and that those benefits last beyond the duration of the initiative . A project may last to years all signs point to climate change lasting much longer . 169

Literature Cited Alley , et al . 2007 . Pages in Solomon , Qin , Manning , Chen , Marquis , and Miller ( editors ) Climate change 2007 the physical science basis . Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Cambridge University Press , Cambridge , UK and New York , New York , USA . and . 2007 . Resilience is not the absence of any more than health is the absence of disease . Journal and Trauma on Stress Coping 12 ( and . 2008 . Resilience to disasters a paradigm shift from vulnerability to strength . African Health Sciences ( A . 1996 . The model as a theory to guide health promotion . Health Promotion International 11 ( A . 2012 . Uses and abuses of the resilience construct loss , trauma , and adversities . Social Science Medicine , and . Hughes ( editors ) 2012 . marine area network , Equator Initiative Case Studies . Equator Initiative , Environment and Energy Group , United Nations Development Programme , New York , New York , USA . Carpenter , Walker , Chapin , and . 2010 . Resilience thinking integrating resilience , adaptability and transformability . Ecology and Society 15 ( online URL , Walker , and ( 2010 . Assessing resilience in systems practitioners . Revised version . Resilience Alliance . and . 2014 . Resilience pivots stability and identity in a system . Ecology and Society 19 ( and Foley . 2014 . Indigenous institutions and their role in disaster risk reduction and resilience evidence from the 2009 tsunami in American . Ecology and Society 19 ( and . 2012 . The science of resilience implications for the treatment and prevention of depression . Science , Muller , and . 2008 . Exploring the dynamics of resilience in East and West Africa preliminary evidence from and . African Health Sciences ( Suh , A . editor ) 2005 . Leonardo notebooks . Writing and art of the great master . Black Dog and Publishers , New York , New York , USA . Walker , and Salt . 2006 . Resilience thinking sustaining ecosystems in world . Island Press , Washington , USA . Walker , and Salt . 2012 . Resilience practice building capacity to absorb disturbance and . Island Press , Washington , USA . and . 2010 . Do let the suffering make you fade away an ethnographic study of resilience among survivors of in southern . Social Science Medicine .

Translating Disaster Resilience into Spatial Planning Practice in South Africa Challenges and Champions by van This article was originally published in Jamba Journal of Disaster Risk Studies , This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International ( BY ) license ABSTRACT It is highly likely that hazards and extreme climatic events will occur more frequently in the future and will become more severe increasing the vulnerability and risk of millions of poor in developing countries . Disaster resilience aims to reduce disaster losses by equipping cities to withstand , absorb , adapt to or external shocks . This paper questions whether disaster resilience is likely to be taken up in spatial planning practices in South Africa , given its immediate developmental priorities and challenges . In South Africa , issues of development take precedence over issues of sustainability , environmental management and disaster reduction . This is illustrated by the priority given to servicing settlements compared to the opportunities offered by transforming spaces through spatial planning . The City of quest in adapting to climate change demonstrates hypothetically that if disaster resilience were to be presented as an issue distinct from what urban planners are already doing , then planners would see it as insignificant as compared to addressing the many developmental and challenges . If , however , it is regarded as a means to secure a city development path whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability , then disaster resilience is more likely to be translated into spatial planning practices in South Africa . INTRODUCTION According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ( cities can be amongst the safest places in the world from the impact of natural hazards if basic services , food security , policing , running water and sewerage are guaranteed , and building codes are respected . However , in reality , many cities in the world are the most dangerous places on earth . The signs of our vulnerability to urban risk are everywhere ( earthquakes bringing critical urban infrastructure and assets down with tragic consequences ( for example , the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010 , and Japan in 2011 ) a volcanic eruption in one country throwing city airports across the world into chaos ( for example , the volcanic eruptions in Iceland in 2010 and Chile in 2011 ) the drug trade turning inner cities into war zones epidemics turning into pandemics in the developing world and streets in the slums of developing cities turning into open sewers during seasonal flooding . Over the past 40 years , 80 000 people have been killed on average each year and 200 million people have been affected by natural disasters ( World Bank United Nations ) Of greater concern than the current trends , is the increasingly clear prognosis from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction ( and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( that hazards and extreme climatic events will occur more frequently in the future and will become more severe ( 2007 ) Many international development organisations ( 2010 2007 2010 World Bank 2008 ) and several researchers ( 2009 de 2009 2003 ) warn us that as and other global processes continue , a strange new urban world ( is developing one that is increasingly at risk of experiencing natural , social industrial disasters beyond many urban authorities experience and ability to manage ( 2010 ) The consequences are bigger losses more often , but also implications for human settlements settlements , particularly in the developing world , that are already challenged by a range of development stresses ( Simon Vogel ) An emphasis on resilience , rather than just disaster response and recovery has become a mainstream idea in disaster reduction ( Collins ) Whereas disaster reduction seeks to identify and reduce vulnerabilities and risks , resilience ( defined below ) is also partly defensive , but more creative in implying coping and adaptation . Planning for resilient cities thus involves more than merely being occupied with minimum standards or spatial designs , it involves accommodation of and adaptation to changing conditions over the ( Collins . This article questions whether disaster resilience is likely to be translated into spatial planning practice in South Africa , given its immediate developmental priorities and challenges . The article starts by considering what risk , vulnerability and resilience mean conceptually then discusses the planning context and spatial planning practices in South Africa and concludes with a case study on the City of to demonstrate how a new policy paradigm has recently been into local planning 171

practices , in spite of developmental and intergovernmental challenges . CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Urban disaster risk and vulnerability The vulnerability of people to disasters is increasing progressively , and , if left unchecked , will augment the local disaster risk burden of the world urban poor ( et al . 2009 ) An urban risk divide is developing in cities as they become increasingly unjust , polarised , divided and fragmented the elite barricade themselves in and regulated villages ( Watson ) whilst some communities struggle to survive along the fault lines of urban risk ( The poor are largely priced out of safe areas and are concentrated in severely vulnerable and unsafe spaces most often in informal settlements that are or , close to pollution sources , often at highest risk of fire and disease , cauldrons of social tension and crime , with inadequate or services , and lack of protection from extreme climatic events ( et al . 2007 2009 ) Hazards interact with each other to produce compound hybrid hazards , and as everyday disaster risk grows , it undermines the coping capacities of communities . Each succeeding event erodes the resources of a household to cope with and recover in time for the next shock , resulting in a ratchet effect of vulnerability ( 2012 Freeman et al . et al . et al . 361 2009 ) It is clear that addressing urban disaster risk and vulnerability is critical in protecting the lives and livelihoods of people , as well as the infrastructure and development gain . Resilience offers a perspective on reducing disasters and everyday risks , as well as making people and places more robust and adaptable to changes and shocks . Resilient cities Cities are among humankind most durable artefacts ( Vale ) Resilience is perhaps a new metaphor to many disciplines , being used to describe and frame a to threat , but resilience has always preoccupied the inhabitants of cities as they sought to defend and secure their interests . The rise of resilience is ascribed to a growth in political action against a number of perceived threats and events such as climate events , disease pandemics and global terrorism ( Wood Rogers , introduced the term resilience for the first time in 1973 as applied to the analysis of ecosystems . It emerged as a concept in ecosystems theory to explain how ecological systems cope with external shocks , or how to interpret their stability ( Ecological resilience was defined as the amount of disturbance that an ecosystem could withstand without changing processes and structures ( et al . The range of application of the term resilience has since then broadened in both theory and research . In recent years resilience has become a concept that integrates political and physical aspects ( and is becoming a common frame for the policy goals of systems such as cities ( et al . 11 ) Resilience as a concept has its critics though it is seen by some as merely aspiring to return to the situation before the shock , with no aspirations for transforming society , and therefore only benefitting some and not those most at risk ( 2011 ) Resilience is popularly understood as the capacity to accommodate , absorb , bounce back from , or adapt to some kind of perturbation ( Vale World Bank ) If resilient , a system has a degree , allowing it to withstand a shock and reorganise itself when necessary ( World Bank ) and is thus forgiving of external shocks ( Resilience is indicated by the continuation of particular functions at an acceptable level ( 2011 ) Moreover , it includes the ability to learn by continuously adapting to the constantly changing risks and vulnerabilities ( Collins 2009239 ) The goals of a city need to be built into the everyday practices of urban planning ( However , urban planning , particularly in the developing world , has so far played a limited role in consciously reducing vulnerability to disasters or everyday risks and disaster resilience is little understood ( Swart Van der 2009 ) The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives ( sums up the reason for the lack of action the changing nature of disaster risk is well analyzed and increasingly addressed at international and national levels of debate and , efforts to provide direct and practical guidance to local government and planners on how to reduce exposure and increase resilience to disasters have been few . Because disaster resilience is not made practical , planning practices are often unsustainable in fact , our everyday decisions could even increase people exposure to risks and hazards , as opposed to building resilience ( 2003 ) Most planners would agree that building cities is of great consequence , but many countries in the developing world , 172

including South Africa , have major immediate development challenges compared to which the pursuit of resilience seems like a nice to have . The next section considers whether disaster resilience is likely to be translated into spatial planning practice in South Africa . CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK The South African planning context , apartheid had purposefully and systematically restricted black South Africans from meaningful participation in the economy . The assets of the majority of people were directly and indirectly destroyed and access to skills and was racially restricted ( The Presidency 2009 2011 ) Despite solid and consistent economic growth for most of the past 18 years , and numerous policy and legislation changes , the present resilience of urban settlements in South Africa is endangered by spatial inequalities , fragmentation , urban sprawl , inequalities between rich and poor that are deepening , the overload on basic infrastructure and services , congestion on roads , social exclusion , increased crime , and pressure on ecosystem services ( 201 ) Despite having one of the largest public housing projects in the world , decent shelter near employment opportunities remains elusive for most people many do not have access to housing or security of tenure , quality social services , public facilities and amenities , economic opportunities and livelihoods , basic services . Moreover , the South African space economy is characterised by the coexistence of formal and informal economic activities , housing and transportation systems , and a dualism in quality of all aspects of life ( 16 Oranje World Bank Institute 2012 ) The stark inequalities in the country threaten the fragile social cohesion , and have given rise to an increasing number of violent service delivery protests and xenophobic attacks . There are , furthermore , huge territorial disparities between rural and urban areas ( Van et al . 35 ) Planning in South Africa With the rise of democracy in South Africa , expectations of the eradication of imbalances , including equitable development and access to basic services , were high ( Roberts ) A new path of reconstruction and development was cut out for a South Africa in the form of numerous green and white policy papers , Acts and regulations . Simultaneously , a new intergovernmental system was established with a strong focus on the process of inclusive planning rather than planning products ( 2011 Oranje Van ) thus Integrated Development Plans ( which promote the developmental government paradigm ( including disaster management ) became the dominant planning instrument in South Africa . These plans focus on stakeholder processes and institutional coordination but neglect the notion of using space to restructure settlements . Watson calls this preoccupation with intergovernmental coordination at the expense of transforming previously disadvantaged settlements the of the spatial ( in ) Oranje and Van ( describe development planning in South Africa as being characterised by a conflict in intent , action and outcome between service delivery and transformation . Servicing is ensuring a rapid response to a lack of housing and basic services . As such , it has a very perspective , concerned with the number of houses completed and services delivered often in areas where people should not even be living . Oranje and Van ( 201 ) argue that the outcome has not necessarily transformed the space economy , but only addressed the symptoms . Transformation , on the other hand , is concerned with the restructuring of the entire space economy through the pursuit of shared , sustainable , equitable and inclusive growth . However , much more emphasis has been placed on servicing , which means that many communities may have houses and basic services , but the expansion of the economy into these serviced areas has been minimal and people remain far from social and economic opportunities for it is often assumed by planners and politicians that it is possible to change the spatial pattern of economic growth and development through state intervention . Municipalities , furthermore , face a number of challenges in overcoming the apartheid spatial legacy lack of funds lack of technical , managerial , financial and planning skills and capacity to take up the developmental role institutional transformation issues because of the amalgamation of municipalities economic woes inherited from apartheid huge service delivery and intergovernmental misalignment and complexity ( Oranje Van 201 Van et al . Thus the focus on attaining servicing targets ( which are immediate and bottomless ) often comes at the expense of and transformative planning ( Oranje Van 2011 ) such as planning for disaster resilience . Translating disaster resilience into spatial planning practice in South Africa Before 1991 , environmental management , disaster reduction and sustainability , amongst other concerns , received very little attention in South African policy . This changed after 1991 as the process of resulted in a revised development agenda ( Roberts 2008521 ) But the simultaneous , parallel development of many policies resulted in duplicated development application processes , competing bureaucracies , interests and agendas , and differences in training , discourse and practice ( 201 23 ) There was also a growing tension between the need to expedite development to address inequalities , and the need to introduce sustainability concerns such as environmental management and disaster reduction into planning . As described above , development won out as the priority , so that issues were of less immediate concern . There are exceptions , but for the most part this tension has still not been resolved , but has , in many cases , intensified due to the range of immediate and severe development challenges ( Roberts 2008523 ) For example , the author has found that planning for everyday disaster resilience is not a priority amongst planners in some municipalities 173

in South Africa due to the pressure of providing for immediate development needs , so that they do not even deem reducing the risk of natural disasters to be part of the planning process , but rather as part of what the environmental people do ( Van 2012 ) What follows is a case study of the City of in South Africa a metropolitan city facing typical development challenges and how they have started to mainstream climate change adaptation into their everyday planning . This serves as a hypothetical demonstration that the mainstreaming of disaster resilience in spatial planning can be accomplished if approached in such a way that it is seen as part of the immediate development agenda and integrated into existing planning strategies and everyday planning practices . CASE STUDY CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN is a coastal city with the largest port on the east coast of Africa . The Municipality manages the 2300 square kilometre municipal area that hosts a population of million people and is South Africa third biggest urban economy ( et al . Roberts ) The City of faces typical challenges as described above . It also experiences severe weather events such as flooding , storms , droughts and tornadoes . To this extent , a report commissioned by the Municipality on climate change suggests that over time would experience minimum and maximum temperature increases and rainfall would become more infrequent , but more severe causing flooding and high tide levels . The report also indicates that the sea level is rising by per decade . These changes in the climate and sea level will affect numerous sectors in the city such as food security , health , infrastructure , water security , biodiversity and the economy , and many people will become more vulnerable to disaster risks ( et al . Roberts ) At that time , few strategies in engaged with each other to reduce the risk for disasters due to extreme weather events . Moreover , the disaster management sector was mostly responsive to emergencies , not focusing on planning to minimise exposure and susceptibility , relocating people and infrastructure away from high risk areas , or on developing early warning systems . As severe weather events started to cause more damage to the city during the last decade notably the severe flooding in 2007 and coastal erosion that caused significant damage to the coastline around the Municipality started to wake up to the consequences of these events , and realised that many of the development gains are already being undermined or lost , and will be exacerbated further by climate change . Climate change adaptation , or interventions , started to achieve prominence in forthe potential it offers for that are responsive to a context of poverty and underdevelopment ( et al . 2012 Roberts , still took some time , and trial and error , for to be recognised today as one of the leaders in climate change adaptation . To start with , the Environmental Management Department commissioned the development of an adaptation strategy , published in 2006 , which general adaptation actions that could be taken by sector departments . It was an important document to the debate on climate change in the city , but it did not act as a catalyst for action in part because it did not specify goals and actions for specific departments , and partly because many departments were dealing with work and overloads , as well as a lack of funding and capacity ( Roberts 2010 401 ) In 2008 , the Environmental Management Department , whose name changed to the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department ( to indicate the priority given to climate change in the city realised that to gain widespread support for an adaptation plan , they had to shift the emphasis from the threats climate change to presenting adaptation as a means to realise immediate development priorities . Work was started on individual plans for specific sector departments by embedding adaptation planning into existing business plans and development objectives . These plans measures and protocols to maintain or improve the functioning of municipal systems , services and infrastructure given the projected impacts of climate change . Essentially , the goal was to build increased resilience one adaptation intervention at a time ( Roberts 2010 ) Climate change considerations were also factored into the overall plans and budgets of the municipality ( et al . Roberts , 2010 ) exogenous factors such as the growing demand from global and local civil society to address issues , or international treaties , three endogenous factors seem initially to have driven the adaptation initiatives in . One is the efforts a champion who pushed the adaptation agenda and creatively navigated the minefield that is local government . Two , the city came under the impression of the gravity of climate change impacts and the danger their residents were in if it became more severe . Three , the municipality realised that climate change adaptation was a means to secure the city development path whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability and resilience ( et al . found ways to link adaptation to existing policies and plans to demonstrate that this is not an unfamiliar or inconsequential issue but one that was already part of current citywide priorities and initiatives ( et al . Adaptation came to be seen as integral to the ongoing work of municipal departments and is starting to influence planning practices in the city . If the City of managed to integrate climate change consideration into their various sector plans which are starting to have an impact on the way the city is planned , then surely other South African cities can attempt to mainstream disaster resilience ( including climate change adaptation ) into their spatial planning practices ?

174 CONCLUSION It is very likely that losses to lives , livelihoods , assets and infrastructure will increase in the future as more people migrate to cities and as the effects processes such as climate change increase communities vulnerability and disaster risk . Many of the implications will be beyond the capacity and experience of local governments to address , wiping out development gain and diverting scarce funds toward disaster relief and reconstruction . Developing countries will suffer most from these impacts , increasing the risk divide within and between nations . Disaster resilience attempts to reduce these losses by mainstreaming physical , social , economic and environmental measures into planning practices to allow urban systems to accommodate , absorb , adapt to or bounce back from shocks to the urban system . Spatial planning is critical in building this resilience . By managing growth and change in cities , spatial planning can promote , sustainability and inclusion ( By mainstreaming disaster resilience ( including climate change adaptation ) into spatial planning practices , these development endeavours can be protected from future losses . spatial planning has had far more of a life on paper than in practice due to various fears and concerns and concerning implementation ( Oranje ) Planning in South Africa is burdened with addressing housing and service fragmented and sprawled spatial patterns and inefficient transportation systems that result in unequal access to urban functions and the economy challenges of intergovernmental coordination and so forth . To add another distinct burden that of building disaster would be met with despair . The experience shows how planners and officials can be entrepreneurial and innovative in seeking to promote an emerging policy domain . What can be learnt from this ongoing initiative that is slowly starting to influence the way is being planned and managed , is that by presenting disaster resilience as a means to realise a immediate development priorities whilst protecting the development gain , it is more likely that resilience would be translated into spatial planning practice in South Africa than if it were presented as a policy paradigm inconsequential from what planners are already doing . 175

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Ensuring Resilience of Natural Resources Exposure to Extreme Climate Events by Brent Jacobs , Louise , Kristy Moyle and Peat This article was originally published in Resources , This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International ( BY ) license ABSTRACT Natural resources directly support rural livelihoods and underpin much of the wealth of rural and regional Australia . Climate change manifesting as increasing frequency and or severity of extreme weather events poses a threat to sustainable management of natural resources because the recurrence of events may exceed the resilience of natural systems or the coping capacity of social systems . We report the findings of a series of participatory workshops with communities in eight discrete landscapes in South East New South Wales , Australia . The workshops focused on how natural resource management ( is considered in the Recover emergency management cycle . We found that is generally considered only in relation to the protection of life and property and not for the intrinsic value of ecosystem services that support communities . We make three recommendations to improve under extreme climate events . Firstly , the support to communities offered by emergency management agencies could be bolstered by guidance material with government agencies . Secondly , financial assistance from government should specifically target the restoration and maintenance of green infrastructure to avoid loss of resilience . Thirdly , action by natural resource dependent communities should be encouraged and supported to better protect ecosystem services in preparation for future extreme events . Keywords natural resource management extreme climate events emergency management . INTRODUCTION Natural resources directly support the livelihoods of rural society and underpin much of the economic activity of rural and regional areas globally . Australia natural resource base is in decline and climate change poses an additional threat to the sustainable management of land , water and biodiversity A . The impact of extreme climate events such as , floods and drought in rural and regional areas can be devastating and disruptive to social and economic activity . If the events result in a in the supply of ecosystem services through , for example , erosion , surface water pollution or local plant and animal extinctions , the consequences for rural and regional communities can be a permanent loss of natural capital and flow on impacts to social cohesion and accelerated rural decline . Projections of future climate suggest that changes to the frequency severity of extreme climate events are likely to occur . Attempts to define extreme events can be made difficult because of a shifting baseline . discussion of Black Swan events emphasises society blindness with respect to randomness , particularly in relation to large deviations . Easterling et al . categorise climate extremes into two broad groups ( i ) those based on simple climate statistics , which include extremes such as heavy daily or monthly rainfall volumes or very low or very high daily temperatures , that occur annually and ( ii ) more complex extremes , examples of which include severe drought , storms and floods , which do not necessarily occur every year at a given location . Smith defines an extreme event for ecological systems as an occurrence in which a statistically rare or unusual climate period alters ecosystem structure and or function well outside the bounds of what is considered typical or normal variability 10 ( 658 ) She suggests that in response to an extreme climate event , ecosystems surpass an extreme response threshold with two possible outcomes . Either , an ecosystem over time will recover its normal function , or it can undergo a change of state likely accompanied by species loss and invasion . Under climate change , the severity and frequency of events will likely combine to determine the interval required for recovery of systems . If the frequency of recurrence is greater than the rate at which the system recovers its level of function then the system can be pushed beyond certain thresholds ( leading to a potential state change ) most likely resulting in a loss of resilience in the natural system the coping capacity of the social system . While the potential exists for an extreme climate event that causes local ecosystems to change state , the consequences of such an occurrence would be highly unpredictable and likely beyond the coping capacity of local emergency services and managers with lasting consequences for the environment and ecosystem services . Instead , in this paper we considerthe case of an event of lesser intensity where the social system responds effectively through management intervention to avoid thresholds , enhance recovery of ecosystems and increase resilience to repeat events 11 . 178

Many local , state and national governments have developed comprehensive disaster management plans that encompass extreme climate events ( State of New York 12 , Public Safety Canada 13 , et al . 14 ) In Australia , the State Government of New South Wales has emergency service capability for natural disasters and has implemented a State Emergency Management Plan 15 . It is based on an adaptive management system ( learning from past events ) and supported by local social capital ( through community volunteer services ) The Plan uses a framework of prevent , prepare , respond and recover ( In the event of a natural disaster this framework is applied to inform government and its combat and support agencies of the appropriate administrative and operational responses throughout the duration of the event . While the Plan recognises the importance of reducing the level of risk to communities during the prevent and prepare phases , and the restoration of the environment during recover , in practice it focuses primarily , and necessarily , on saving lives and protecting property before , during and after an extreme event . Under climate change , a shift of focus may be required to better address the protection of natural resources from extreme events . This paper seeks to examine key questions in relation to the protection of natural resources from extreme climate events is the emergency management cycle useful for the range of events experienced by rural and regional communities ?

How does Government view of a community progress through the cycle accord with the lived experience of that community ?

In practice , how are natural resources currently considered in the management of extreme climate events ?

How can natural resource management be improved to ensure the prosperity and viability of rural and regional communities for an uncertain future ?

RESULTS . Extreme Event Exposure The community perception of exposure in any particular landscape accorded closely with the mapped exposure levels shown in Figure for each event type . exposure was discussed in four regions , Southern Highlands and the Far South Coast of . Hazard mapping Figure indicates that these regions all have large areas of the landscape that are exposed to this is often with human settlements , although the areas differ in the reasons for the high level of exposure . For the inland regions , grass fires , were identified as the major cause of exposure to for agricultural . For coastal regions high levels of exposure are due to the extent and density of reserve areas ( State Forests and National Parks ) Exposure to in coastal areas is heightened by seasonal tourism . The peak tourist period ( summer school holidays ) coincides with peak fire danger , resulting in an influx of people relatively unconnected to local communication channels and with limited local knowledge of . Figure . Extreme event exposure to ( to ) drought and for South East . 179

The impacts of drought on the community and were discussed in three regions and and . The hazard map Figure indicates that exposure to drought is high throughout these regions and very high in selected areas . These regions suffer from a combination of relatively variable and unpredictable rainfall patterns and large areas of shallow , sedimentary soils them to drought . The largely economy in these towns means that the community is greatly impacted by this type of extreme event . Storms and flooding were discussed at one workshop in the landscape . Storms resulting from the formation of intense East Coast Low ( pressure systems are one of the most damaging weather events for the entire South East coast of 16 . often intensify rapidly overnight and their relatively weak pattern of occurrence , primarily in autumn and winter , means that coastal residents receive little warning . The hazard map Figure indicates that susceptibility to flooding occurs in discrete locations that coincide with coastal river ( and urban settlements ) A combination of a narrow coastal plain and many small river amplifies on human populations and high value infrastructure the impacts of sea level rise , storm surges , flooding and subsidence . In addition , the SE Region has numerous shallow coastal lakes and estuaries ( including swamps and salt marshes ) that are officially recognized as important threatened ecosystems . The lakes are exposed to the risk of marine sediment deposition which limits flushing and replenishment leading to stagnation and . An Extreme Event Timeline To frame a discussion of extreme events in the context of improved protection of natural resources that span multiple types of events in multiple regions by multiple actors we propose a theoretical extreme event time line ( Figure ) The timeline illustrates the level of activity that occurs in each phase of the cycle throughout the duration of an extreme event . It draws on general information elicited through the workshop process and seeks to show how the different types of extreme events can vary from the theoretical , and where the current short comings in the use of the cycle lie from the dual perspectives of the community and of natural resource management . Figure . Theoretical extreme event timeline to illustrate levels of emergency management activity , social assistance activity , community activity and natural resource function in each phase of the emergency management cycle . High , Rapid decline period Emergency management activity I . food , shelter Social , assistance Law High Imminent danger Unable to clean up or stimulates ranid , me Community increase activity Low Repaired Event severity determines and . duration of impairment resource function Impaired Prepare Respond Recover Prevent Phases of the emergency management cycle The actions of diverse emergency response actors have been grouped into separate timelines EM service agencies under emergency management activity , involved in community support under social assistance activity and , community members not directly involved in volunteer EM services under community activity . An additional timeline seeks to illustrate the impact of an extreme event 180

on ecosystem service provision under natural resource function . Activity ranges across a generic scale from low to high for social actors and from impaired to repaired for function . For emergency service actors , activity increases throughout Prepare , plateaus at a high level during Response and remains high through the period early in Recover . Activity then declines through the remainder of stabilise at a lower level throughout Prevent . For social assistance actors , activity increases rapidly during early Respond stimulated by the availability of government disaster funding to provide emergency food , clothing and shelter for evacuees . This type of social assistance remains high throughout Respond and declines during Recover as people are able to return to their homes after the period . A second type of social assistance that provides financial and psychological counselling for disaster victims ( and emergency service volunteers ) increases during Respond and peaks during Recover . These services decline sharply as government funding is withdrawn at the end of Recover . For the community , activity rises sharply in response to imminent danger and marks the change from Prepare to Respond . It then remains relatively high except for a hiatus in activity at the change from Respond to Recover as evacuees are unable to begin activities while emergency service personnel operate in the period . Community activity then declines through Recover as life is resumed and stays at a relatively low level during Prevent . Natural resource function declines sharply with the onset of the extreme event , remains impaired during Respond and may rise with the of ecosystem services during Recover . The severity of the event determines the depth and duration of impairment . Ideally the level of emergency management and community activities in Prevent and Prepare would be sufficient to ensure protection of the natural resource base during the event and complete repair of natural resource function during Recover . It should be noted that none of the event types examined in workshops conforms perfectly to the theoretical timeline . Activity in the Extreme Event Management Cycle . Prepare The threat of is seasonal and there is a program delivered by emergency services that targets the in the lead up to the season . Despite this program , most of the community rarely focuses on until late in the preparation phase when fire risk is already Extreme . Action in this phase by rural was be anticipatory and driven by local knowledge of the significance of weather hot , dry and windy conditions coupled with official weather forecasts , particularly of lightning strikes , and public hazard signs . Participants reported looking for signs in the landscape , such as bushland that is low in moisture , or the of fuel in natural areas . action reported to take place in preparation and prevention phases is similar and is largely centered on removing native vegetation such as Eucalyptus from around dwellings , or replacing native trees with such as deciduous trees . Where possible , rural reported attempting to mitigate risk by incorporating fire and wind breaks into native , using grazing management or slashing ( contentious due to the risk of sparks ) to reduce the threat of grass fires and , clearing understory vegetation to reduce fuel loads in selected areas . In the Prepare and Prevent phases emergency management agencies and Local Councils engage in fuel reduction activities such as prescribed burning , mechanical , trimming trees , maintaining fire trails and Asset Protection Zones ( However , these activities can have negative consequences for and are reportedly increasingly contentious among communities . Some coastal residents felt that hazard burning , reducing canopy cover and loss of moisture increases vulnerability . Response The transition from the Prepare phase into the Respond phase occurs when a warning is communicated via the local radio , television or through website or text messaging . In this phase people will smell see smoke or may be subject to ember attack on their properties . However there is often confusion over the exact location of a fire and its direction of movement . The primary focus in the Respond phase is protecting lives and property , yet this often comes at the expense of natural resources . open gates and cut fences to allow livestock to roam free , and and fire trails are created with can inadvertently damage sensitive ecological communities ( or riparian zones ) and may require extensive rehabilitation once the fire has passed . chemical may be used to fight fires in remote areas , in spite of the fact that native vegetation is known to be sensitive to phosphate levels and the impact of fire is largely unknown . One volunteer explained that the local try to protect trees with hollows for nesting sites by wetting them down . The use of Remote Area Fire Teams ( RAFT ) to quickly extinguish fires in inaccessible areas as a result of lightning strikes drew some criticism because it was seen as interrupting the natural hazard reduction processes that occur through regular burning and increased the likelihood of future catastrophic fires . The key combat agency in managing response generally views protection of natural assets as a low priority . In a field operation , is necessarily rapid , and reactive to local conditions . Allocation of resources is prioritized for the protection of life and property ( often the lives of the fire crews themselves are in ) Under such circumstances , particularly in intense , 181

scale fires , there is little opportunity to implement any plans for the protection of natural assets that might have been formulated in prevention and preparation phases . There are a limited number of activities that engage in during the Respond phase due to the brief period between a warning and the arrival of an event . reported making small sources of water available for wildlife during hot weather and fires . However , personal household and rural property fire plans are not currently required to focus on aspects of natural resource management . Recovery The Recover phase attracts considerable external resources and support within the affected area , which can be local or regional in scale . After a , provide initial support with government funding , as well as the immediate physical needs ( such as food , emergency shelter , and clothing ) and social needs ( such as psychological and financial counselling ) of the community . Funding is channeled toward replacement of essential public assets , and reconstruction of private assets , such as housing , using insurance payouts where available . Government funding is generally withdrawn before the recovery phase is complete . This is critical for natural businesses . Agricultural in particular are often socially isolated and have slower rates of economic recovery than urban communities because rural livelihoods are closely tied to rates of recovery in the landscape . The demarcation of the Respond and Recover phases is blurred . Participants , particularly those involved in the , generally acknowledged that there can be an extended period after a has passed . During this time , the risks of fires may continue for long periods ( up to weeks ) resulting in a need for vigilance placing a heavy physical and psychological burden on communities . When people return to their properties , lives can still be significantly at risk due to falling trees and unsafe buildings . For , natural livelihoods damaged by fire can take an extended time to recover . Natural resources identified as being degraded by fire include soil health , water quality , vegetation cover ( including sown pasture ) and native animal populations . Efforts in the recovery phase focus on the need to rehabilitate areas opened up by fire and attempts to control it ( such as fire breaks ) which involve of vegetation and control of erosion . The success of these actions is often dependent upon prevailing weather conditions that can limit plant growth ( heat , lack of soil moisture ) or exacerbate soil loss and weed invasion ( rainfall ) Other recovery efforts focus on managing water quality , weeds and attending to injured animals . Loss of livestock has a direct economic impact on agricultural industries , and this is often exacerbated by a lack of adequate insurance cover . Native animals that survive fires can become disoriented they may have difficulty finding habitat and food , and may be exposed to predators or struck by cars in attempting to relocate to unburnt areas . Communities often need to rehabilitate or animals ( native fauna , livestock and domestic pets ) burnt or injured by fire with assistance from wildlife recovery groups and local vets , which adds to the psychological burden of adjusting to the aftermath of disaster . All of these actions incur a cost to the community and the burden often falls inequitably on rural because there is a lack of specific funding for remediation . Concerns were expressed by these communities that an increase in fire frequency and intensity may result in permanent changes to ecosystems , exacerbate the loss of biodiversity and fundamental change communities in these regions . Prevent Because rely on a combination of specific weather conditions and fuel load , a fire event generally lowers the risk of a subsequent event , providing a of respite in which prevention measures can be implemented . However , severe fires that cause major disruption to communities can result in and blurring in the transition from Respond to Prevent . Individual social groups , businesses ( natural resource ) and aspects of community ( such as mental health ) may recover at vastly slower rates . These factors are currently unaccounted for during the Prevent phase , which is defined as a return to normal following an event . El Nino forecasts were identified as one trigger for action in the prevention phase because they raise expectations of warmer and drier weather periods . However , some disagreed , suggesting that they paid little attention to these types of announcements as they make that prediction every year . Participants outlined a number of preventative actions that can reduce their exposure to risk whilst contributing to such as soil , water and vegetation management and planting layout . In common with the Prepare phase , some actions are contentious within the community such as reduction burning and clearing native vegetation from around properties . activities that are more sensitive to the local environment were identified as planting native species ( was suggested ) in clumps , in a line or to create a to interrupt the path of the fire . In addition , removal of fuel such as fire prone invasive grasses ( African ) was seen as a priority . The management of water focused on the collection , storage and pumping of water close to dwellings for firefighting , as well as encouraging moisture retention generally in the landscape and reducing evaporation . The prevention phase is most important for but much of the community is disengaged from the efforts of 182

emergency services . Disengagement was attributed to two main factors Coastal communities with little recent experience of a major fire . The previous large fire on the Far South Coast was 20 years ago ( 991 ) Population growth and turnover has reportedly contributed to a loss of local knowledge and a breakdown of community networks through and rural change . The seasonal nature of fire risk leads to community complacency and a disinterest in preventative action when fire events fail to materialise . While the community routinely identified the as a trusted source of information and assistance , they were often at a loss to describe what other social and information networks or services they might draw upon in the event of a fire . planning decisions , in relation to new residential developments that fail to take into account current and future fire risks ( which are increase in frequency and intensity ) were linked to adverse impacts upon , often requiring activities that are damaging to sensitive coastal ecosystems . Drought . Prepare The Prepare phase for drought was likened to a train crash you see coming for a period before it hits . in all three areas reported monitoring the Bureau of Meteorology ( BOM ) forecasts of the Southern Oscillation Index and El Nino warnings . However , as with , they felt that the value of the warnings was diminished by their inaccuracy . Instead monitor subtle signs within the local landscape such as feed levels , pasture and plant growth and water levels in creeks and dams . For commercial farms , reported using a general heuristic for drought preparation , with failed autumn rain as the initial warning , followed by failed spring rain , which indicates the onset of drought When the spring rains failed last year , farmers started preparing for drought . Drought landscape ) Participants agreed that you have to be prepared at all times to respond to drought , and that there is nothing lost in undertaking preparations . Drought preparations were considered good management practice in an unpredictable climate . Preparation activities focus on the capture , retention and distribution of water in the landscape via water harvesting , dam and weir maintenance , and recycling ( particularly on properties ) water to draw on during drought . Monitoring and maintaining is seen as critically important to prevent erosion . plant perennial grasses , and rooted trees to improve retention and access to soil moisture . Respond Unlike , there is often little clear distinction between Prepare and Respond phases for drought . The slow but progressive onset of drought makes it difficult for people to realise they are in the Respond phase By the time you realise , you are already in a drought . Drought landscape ) The Respond phase is evidenced by ongoing deficit of rainfall , particularly during periods of high evaporative demand , loss of surface water , lack of pasture growth , and vegetation die back . The adaptive responses are highly localised as review their situation in terms of water reserves , livestock numbers , availability and cost of feed and their financial situation . Drought has a severe impact upon animals through reduced access to pastures , loss of condition and increased likelihood of disease . weigh up the potential damage of stock management actions on natural resources such as the pasture base and soil condition . reported the widespread adoption of practices such as sacrificial ( reserved for grazing ) and drought feed lots , as well as constant adjustment of stock numbers using computer management tools , if available . They also use drought as an opportunity to remove accumulated sediment from dams to increase their capacity while they are dry , and to repair fencing . Drought also affects biodiversity through reduced habitat availability and quality , paddock trees often have hollows for arboreal animals but these trees are susceptible to die back during drought . Erosion and dust storms can also reduce water quality and low water levels negatively impact on aquatic biodiversity . Unlike other extreme climate events , drought fails to attract an emergency management response . This is most likely because of the spatial variation in onset , the slow progression from Prepare to Respond and the often vast scale of the disaster . groups ( can act to mobilise volunteers for however , reported a decline in membership during drought because people become more focused on the management of their own property rather than undertaking action on public land ( particularly ) volunteers become short of time because of the additional burdens of stock ( stock transport and sales . Hand feeding is increasingly difficult for an ageing farm population , often comprising single on large properties . droughts can contribute to the erosion of local skills and knowledge , which would normally be mediated through social networks . Government agriculture and agencies were identified as contributing to community cohesion and resilience in some areas . While Government may declare an area as drought affected this may not trigger support , as the duration of the response phase is unpredictable . 183

The decline in social networks during drought can exacerbate feelings of isolation for people on rural properties . As a consequence socialise less frequently as the drought at a time when they are most in need of support . reported that those most in need were often likely to be isolated before the drought , and therefore even less likely to seek any social assistance or counselling services . Unlike , where communities come together to fight and organisations such as the provide a social focus around action , drought erodes family and community structures . suicides among are disproportionately common , having a huge impact on both families and the wider community . Communities do attempt to alleviate the isolation through social events such as drought buster parties ( a reason to have a drink when there no reason , landscape ) Participants emphasised the need to have healthy and alert farmers able to act on signs of recovery . Community mental health was considered a largely hidden aspect of extreme droughts and a depressed community was thought to be much slower to act and less innovative in response and recovery . Extensive grazing is the major agricultural activity in the Southern and Alpine regions of the South East . Declining terms of trade have severely eroded the profitability of grazing enterprises , particularly on more marginal land . One Alpine ( region ) grazier explained I running out of corners to cut . Drought further reduces financial reserves and can leave them with a burden of debt that remains long after the drought has ended . This in turn means that are unable to afford to finance prevention measures . There is reportedly a lack of funding for activities for limiting the impact of drought and when drought assistance is provided it is often too little too late . Where funding is available , applications have to be very detailed in order to justify a grant , requiring extensive administration , monitoring and reporting . This is often beyond the capabilities of volunteer organisations or single already experiencing stress , and many are discouraged by the conditions or lack the time or expertise to submit a funding application . Recover As with , the biophysical , financial and psychological aspects of communities recover at different rates . Some participants noted that recovery starts when you get good pasture growth , notjust good rain ( biophysical ) but others said that recovery does not begin until stock levels have returned ( financial ) and the communities have recovered from the shock ( psychological ) Depending on the extent of the drought , recovery can proceed for several years rather than months , and some communities undergo permanent changes from which they never recover . In some landscapes believed that they did not recover fully from a drought in 1982 , because it marked a in rainfall that permanently lowered productivity . While returning stock to is a matter of urgency for financial recovery this is often difficult because stock prices are high during recovery . believed that the South unpredictable climate means that there is not really a recovery phase more of a respite from the next drought than a recovery . You can not be confident you are in a recovery phase . Drought landscape ) A bank of moisture in the soil can provide some confidence that the drought is ending but loss of vegetation cover results in poor rainfall retention , lower infiltration and high levels of . Erosion is a problem in the Recover phase and is worsened by past clearing of native vegetation , poor agricultural management practices unsuited to the region soils and . Invasion by new species of weeds can be problematic as the lack of ground cover provides little competition for species introduced through imported feed or purchased replacement stock . Smaller reported maintenance of through composting , with legumes , encouragement of native perennial grasses and planting fodder such as lucerne . Both large and reduce erosion through improved grazing management and fencing of riparian and woodland zones from livestock . They recognised the importance of allowing bare soil to , providing protection from wind and rain . Recurring drought is reportedly influencing the range of some native animal species . For example , reported higher numbers of wombats in areas not previously observed . Workshop participants feared permanent changes to the region ecosystems as a result of frequent drought and agreed on the need for a more holistic view of landscape management that considers native flora and fauna . Prevent As with , the activities undertaken to protect in the Prepare and Prevent phases are similar . focus on trying to drought proof properties by planting trees to form , and block of native drought resistant species and rooted . Some have trialed of species ( such as Tagasaste or tree Lucerne ) unable as yet to report on its efficacy as drought fodder ( however , one grazier emphasised that you would need a lot of tree lucerne to provide anything more than a minor supplement to forage supply in a drought ( landscape ) Retaining water in the landscape is an important way to reduce exposure to the impacts of drought . Participants noted that direct drilling technology can improve the condition of soils and reduce land degradation by avoiding the compaction associated with repeated passes of heavy machinery . Soil condition and ground cover can be maintained also by sound rotational grazing management , although in some areas changes in property ownership , an influx of absentee and holdings often see farms 184

stocked by inexperienced . Fencing sensitive areas such as gullies and creeks to prevent disturbance by cattle was also seen as an important way to protect riparian zones . Most adopted reticulation and troughs to supply water to livestock , but agreed that this environmental improvement came at the cost of extra infrastructure , monitoring and maintenance of water points . also reported controlling willows and planting natives such as Eucalyptus ( manna gum ) along river banks . Storms and Flood In contrast with drought but in common with , storm and flood events have well defined stages . Storms generally have a very rapid onset ( short preparation phase ) followed by a relatively short duration ( or response phase ) due to the relatively rapid rise and fall of flood waters in short coastal . However , as with the other extreme climate events the damage caused can result in a prolonged recovery phase . The State Emergency Service ( SES ) is the combat agency tasked with coordinating the response to storms and flood . Prepare Of the three types of events examined in workshops storms appear to have the least Prepare phase . In general , little action is undertaken by the community in the Prepare phase to reduce threats of storms because of the unpredictable nature of with very short ( often only hours ) advanced warning and , unlike , the lack of a defined storm season . As a result , the community is frequently unprepared . At the time of the workshops there was no planning process in place to deal with East Cost Lows in same way as the supports household fire plans for events . Lack of preparation has consequences for protecting life and property and for the management of natural resources . Given the limited potential for action in the Prepare phase , promote storm readiness needs to shift to prevention throughout the when the threat of storm is imminent . Workshop participants agreed on the need for a household storm plan ( similar to a fire plan ) that outlines how to mitigate risks for personal safety and assets to reduce damage to life and property as well as natural resources . For example , during storms unsecured gas bottles ( from caravan parks ) chemical drums ( from rural properties ) and other buoyant debris are dislodged and move with the flow of flood water . These materials end up in waterways and are often deposited in inaccessible areas of estuaries , wetlands and swamps where they become a litter problem adding to pollution . Planning for storm readiness should encourage behavior in the community that prevents these potentially hazardous materials from entering the environment . Participants referred to tree hysteria among local residents following wind events , which results in widespread calls for trees to be cut down with little or no thought to tree preservation or environmental impact . The localised nature of storms can result in long intervals between major flood events , which present a challenge to overcoming inertia and loss of knowledge in the community . Respond As with other extreme events there is inadequate consideration of in the Respond phase for storms and flood . The focus of emergency services includes coordinating other combat and support agencies , sandbagging to control inundation , securing storm damaged properties , keeping evacuation routes open and assisting in the evacuation of the community . Workshop participants agreed that natural resource management is rarely considered during the response phase and that actions to manage the event can cause unintended consequences for the environment . For example , riparian areas subject to inundation are often managed with heavy earth moving machinery such as bulldozers to control bank stability . Little consideration is given in these operations to their impact on river and lake water quality and loss of and seed banks . Beaches are routinely used to collect and fill sand bags for flood control . There is some uncertainty around the legality of this action and there is currently no guidance for emergency workers on the most appropriate location for sand collection . The severity of the storm event reportedly modifies the ability of the emergency services to respond . Very severe storms can make it unsafe for the SES to send out emergency response crews , leaving the community particularly exposed to the likelihood of disruption of essential services such as power , water and telecommunications . Participants identified a lack of clarity around the processes of communication during storm events . Calls to local council regarding problems with trees are reportedly transferred to council tree management office . Unlike the SES , these staff may not be trained in dealing with emergency management situations . Recover In common with other types of extreme events , recovery for the community can be slow and support is often withdrawn before economic and social recovery is complete . Flood waters can remain in low lying areas for long periods . There can be an extended period of where flooded properties require inspection to ensure electrical hazards have been addressed before residents are allowed to return to begin the process . For , much of the work undertaken by groups with government grant funding can be damaged or lost during floods . Despite the high risk of loss of restoration works in riparian areas , there is no provision of funding to replace riparian 185

remediation works following a flood event . volunteers at the workshop indicated that replacement of works would require a new funding application , with no guarantee of success , which can be disheartening for workers . In addition , action to clear waterways and coastal lakes of sediments involving dredging can impact the fragile estuary environments . Prevent Workshop participants recognised that flood prevention was a issue . Land use change in the upper catchment affects flood risk in the lower catchment . Some locations have a limited and the cumulative impact of urban development increases impervious areas with dramatic effects on the volume and velocity of surface runoff , exposing areas to the risk of erosion and flash flooding . For coastal areas subject to beach erosion and storm surges , participants feared that the natural coastal protection features , such as dune systems and the vegetation they support are being damaged through residential development . Aside from the significant loss of these endangered ecosystems , the damage to buffering increases the exposure of dwellings to storm impacts . There is a need to spatially identify areas exposed to the impact of storms and flooding to ensure that future developments consider the increased risk of extreme events . Riparian restoration is a focus of actions in coastal to prevent stream bank erosion . However , workshop participants identified some actions in riparian zones as producing downstream consequences in floods . In particular , the materials such as weed matting or bamboo canes used to assist efforts are often washed downstream during a flood , adding to pollution in estuaries . Participants felt that planning for storms in coastal must become a more integral part of community preparedness for extreme events . In particular , the community needs to become much more aware of the role of ecosystem services in coastal protection . The current mindset appears to allow degradation to occur , then replace green infrastructure with inadequate ( engineered structures , which are prone to failure and can be more costly than green infrastructure . DISCUSSION Four questions were posed in the introduction to this paper in relation to the protection of natural resources from extreme climate events . The narrative constructed in the results about each type of event will be interrogated to discuss these questions . Is the Emergency Management Cycle Useful for the Range of Events Experienced by Rural and Regional Communities ?

The emergency management cycle is a useful concept to engage rural and regional communities in the generic responses to extreme climate events including the roles of government combat and support agencies and NGO social services . It also helps to identify the responsibilities of local communities for ensuring their own readiness for extreme events . However , it has limitations . For example , in practice , variations among the types of extreme events , the hazards within specific landscapes and the capacity of discrete communities within the South East region most often means that the cycle does not accord with the lived experience of a community . Participants generally agreed that there was considerable blurring of the demarcation between prevent and prepare phases , particularly where the former may be abruptly truncated ( as is the case with coastal storms ) How Does Government View of a Community Progress through the Cycle Accord with the Lived Experience of that Community ?

The question of divergence among government and community perceptions of the cycle is important because the cycle is embedded in central government emergency management policy , which in turn determines the broader governance of an event . The duration of each phase of the cycle from the community perspective will depend on the type of extreme event . For drought the Prepare phase progresses slowly merging into Respond and results in a gradual deterioration of natural resource function that underpins economic activity , with flow on effects to community social cohesion as the drought continues 21 . For the threat is regular and seasonal but the high risk period is being extended by changing climate so that Prepare and Prevent phases are becoming less well defined . Community interest tends to wane through the need for a constant state of readiness 18 . Storms are unpredictable and of limited duration so Prepare and Respond phases are correspondingly short allowing little opportunity for community action . Recovery , or the ability to bounce back from shocks , is central to theories of social ecological resilience 22 . However , the recovery phase of the cycle is the most complex , hardest to manage and , in many ways , the most critical phase of the cycle . The often protracted nature of recovery and its reliance on local context make it difficult for centralised responses from government . The speed of recovery varies across economic , social and environmental components of systems . While economic recovery can be slow , it is supported through rebuilding of private assets with insurance payouts , and essential public infrastructure through government disaster funding . Social impacts of extreme events , particularly those on mental health , are becoming recognised as increasingly important if not always fully addressed 23 . Recovery from bush fires generates high public interest and is often a focus of media attention because they are of relatively short duration and provide moving images ( media coverage of the anniversary of the 2013 Blue Mountains 186

fire event ) While drought generates sympathy in urban communities , its longer duration can result in media fatigue and waning public interest 24 . It was clear from workshops that community workers believed that government social assistance for extreme events is withdrawn well before many members of the community recover . The combined duration of Recover , Prevent and Prepare phases is equivalent to the interval between single events . This interval varies with the type of event and , forsome events , is also influenced by natural resource function . For example the incidence of major is dependent on weather conditions and fuel load . Fuel load is removed by fire ( either an event or a hazard reduction burn ) providing a period of respite between events while vegetation recovers . Droughts often occur as clusters of dry spells following ocean temperature cycles ( measured by the Southern Oscillation Index ) punctuated with periods of wetter conditions 25 . Storm events , which can lead to flooding , however , could occur in close succession . There is also the increasing potential for multiple events to occur consecutively drought leading to higher incidence of followed by intense rain and flooding , which further blurs the phases of the EM cycle . The concept of normalization to climate change and extreme events to build community resilience and is becoming central to government disaster planning 26 . Extreme events often accelerate autonomous adjustment processes that are ongoing in regional areas . However , long term or catastrophic events can overwhelm a community coping ability leaving it unable to recover without external assistance . Various alternative models of government support under drought have been proposed ( that participated in the drought workshops understood and accepted dry periods ( years ) as part of the agricultural production environment . They generally agreed that land managers should be expected to plan for such regular events . their ability to set aside sufficient reserves to manage for severe droughts ( such as the Millennium Drought from 2002 to 2007 29 ) appears beyond their capability . There is evidence in the high incidence of rural family breakdown , farmer suicides and rapid change in rural Australia that coping strategies are being already overwhelmed . The wisdom of a government stance for extreme events in rural and regional communities that relies heavily on building and maintaining local community resilience is questionable in the knowledge community coping will be exceeded in the future . It may be necessary to facilitate local transformation in order to preserve regional resilience . Rates of recovery also depend on the of ecosystem service provision particularly for natural resource dependent ( such as agriculture and tourism ) For the SE Region , grazing enterprises , which are the dominant form of agricultural , are particularly hard hit because recovery depends not only on plant growth rates ( pasture availability ) but also on having sufficient stock numbers to harvest available pasture mass . Stock numbers depend in turn on breeding rates and or ability to purchase suitable animals ( usually unavailable because of high prices following widespread drought ) There is already considerable autonomous adaptation occurring in response to a range of drivers including variable rainfall . These adaptations include changed practices ( drought , adaptively managed stocking rates ) changed ( both fragmentation of unviable farms and consolidation of agriculture on land of higher capability ) and a shift to other livelihood options ( reliance on employment , ownership ) Further change along some of these pathways may be limited . For example amalgamation of properties to achieve economies of scale at low stocking rates is limited by labour availability . It is likely that socioeconomic tipping points will be exceeded with only small changes to production environments ( such as further declining ) coupled with increased intensity or frequency of extreme climate events 33 . light of our discussions with a broad range of local communities we suggest that the uniform application of the cycle in all and for all types of extreme climate events often fails to account for the needs of the local communities it is intended to support . In Practice , How Are Natural Resources Currently Considered in the Management of Extreme Climate Events ?

This research suggests that despite the intrinsic value of natural resources in supporting rural and regional communities , they are seldom explicitly considered in the management of extreme events . Actions to better protect the natural resource base are unlikely to occur during the response phase , where protection of lives and property will remain the priority and under the control of emergency management combat agencies , especially for large scale events . Instead , protection of natural resources from extreme events should focus more attention in the Prevent phase . Our greatest concern is that unlike infrastructure assets , which often incorporate adaptive improvements during rebuilding , natural assets are largely expected to recover autonomously . Where the frequency or severity of events does not allow time for recovery of ecosystem function before a succeeding event , ecosystems may decline , ultimately losing resilience and transforming into undesirable states 20 that fail to provide essential ecosystem services for natural resource dependent communities ( Figure ) How Can Natural Resource Management be Improved to Ensure the Prosperity and Viability of Rural and Regional Communities for an Uncertain Future ?

In conclusion , we propose some changes to the hypothetical extreme event time line ( Figure ) to improve the management of natural resources . These following three changes are a synthesis of information from all of the workshops and do not relate specifically to one type of event or individual landscape Increased activity by emergency management combat agencies to advise and support communities , particularly rural , to 187

sensibly manage vegetation on private land so that and tree hysteria is limited . The information required to undertake such additional activity may require greater among combat and natural resource support agencies to formulate local guidance material . Increased social assistance from government that the restoration and maintenance of living green infrastructure , particularly where it has been damaged by recent extreme events and is essential to the ongoing protection of communities ( such as dune systems in coastal regions ) in order to reduce the potential for loss of resilience ( Figure ) Figure . Conceptualization of the potential changes in state of built and natural assets through repeated emergency management cycles . EXTREME ' CLIMATE EVENT Positive ASSETS ASSETS loss or resilience Increased community activity to protect natural livelihoods , which includes action on both public and private land . The availability of social assistance funding for natural resource restoration could be used as a catalyst forthis activity , which would not only protect ecosystem services but raise awareness in the community of extreme event preparedness in both Prevent and Prepare phases . These three changes should reduce the level of impairment of natural resource function during the response phase . The form that these additional activities should take needs to be negotiated at landscape scale and be informed by local understanding of the most significant extreme event hazard ( 35 for bush fire ) In . MATERIALS AND METHODS . Participatory Workshops This paper provides a synthesis of the findings from a series of participatory workshops that focused on the management of natural resources for extreme weather events across sub regions of South East , Australia ( Figure A ) The workshops were conducted in 2014 with approximately 100 ( in total ) community members representing farmers , emergency service volunteers , local and state government , business owners , Indigenous peoples , financial institutions and Government Organisations ( Table ) Participation was through invitation ( by the regional agency ) and , provided two basic criteria were met ( participants lived in the landscape under discussion ( but not necessarily at the workshop location ) and , they were widely networked and able to reflect on issues relating to , extreme event management or the community in general . Meeting these criteria offset the limitations imposed by low numbers of participants at some workshops . In addition , because the same type of extreme event was discussed at different locations ( with the exception of storm events ) there was considerable redundancy in the data with most themes recurring at multiple workshops . Some workshop participants represented a number of different groups , for example , farmers that are also part of groups or that volunteer with the rural fire management service . 188

Government representatives were also considered as representing their community because they lived and worked in the landscape under discussion . Our approach represents an often necessary compromise in consultation with small rural communities between scientific rigor and the need for relevance to stakeholder concerns establishment of clear links between activity and impact ability to capture spatial and temporal context and resonance with the public to represent society concerns and aspirations 36 . The workshops were designed to enable a clearer understanding of the South East region vulnerability to climate change and to inform the development of strategies that support the community to build landscape and community resilience to extreme climatic events . Workshop Process Qualitative data were collected workshop sessions . Two key activities were conducted during each workshop . The first activity was undertaken as an open plenary discussion that utilised the emergency management , Prepare , Respond and Recover ( to frame participant consideration ofthe most important local , drought , storms and flooding under current climate projections ( Figure ) In particular we sought information about the local , lived experience 37 of extreme climate events throughout the emergency management cycle . This discussion was captured directly into a spreadsheet template and the information projected onto a screen to enable clarification by participants . Figure . Location of the South East region in Australia and the locations of workshops in eight regional landscapes . South Eu ! 189

Table . Community representation at the extreme events workshops . Community Representatives Number Community based em groups and conservation volunteers 36 and agricultural representatives 25 State ( em , agriculture and regional development agencies ) and Local staff working in emergency or risk management roles Emergency staff and 10 Property owners not engaged in Local business owners NGO groups , Indigenous es Education ( Secondary and Tertiary ) Figure . Emergency management cycle ( and ofthe phases as used in the workshops 17 . I ready in Reduce threats expectation of an during an event event Respond Reduce After an event to threats under return to normal normal conditions Key questions for participants at each workshop included much time is spent in each phase of the EM cycle ?

When do the EM cycle phases begin and end ?

What is most at risk in this landscape ?

What actions are undertaken by the community ( not necessarily focused ) during these phases ?

second activity was designed to specifically address the actions taken to manage natural resources and aspects of community capacity to undertake management actions in each phase of the cycle . Participants were divided into four groups corresponding to one phase of the cycle . Where possible the expertise of individuals was matched to particular phases of the cycle . For example , rural counsellors and community finance representatives were often assigned to the recovery phase . Within each group a facilitator led an discussion of current actions to manage natural resources for extreme events , and views on the aspects of the natural environment and local livelihoods and lifestyles that may be lost to the community if extreme events become more frequent or intense . Finally improvements to the management of extreme events throughout the cycle to better protect the natural resource base were discussed . 190

These data were recorded in printed templates by a facilitator assigned to each discussion group . The qualitative information collected about each stage of the emergency management cycle was coded for workshop location and extreme event type . This information was subjected to qualitative 38 to identify emergent themes and provide deeper insights than might be possible from studies of a single location or event type 39 . South East Climate Drivers To inform the workshops an analysis ofthe climate drivers and potential hazards faced by communities in the South East was conducted . Information was drawn from historical climate analyses ( Australian Bureau of Meteorology ) of temperature trends , rainfall trends , anomalies and seasonality , and the occurrence of severe systems and , a climate summary for SE prepared for the SE Integrated Regional Vulnerability Assessment 40 ( Table ) Table . A summary of the major climate impacts for the South East . Hotter Rainfall shift likely increase in summer and decrease in winter Snowfall likely decrease and stream How likely decrease in spring winter , particularly in the west , and an increase during summer Sea level virtually certain to continue to rise Erosion likely increase on some soils Coastal agricultural soils increase in inundation and Sea Level Rise with increased leading to risk to property and infrastructure on the coast Changes to ( alpine , coastal and sensitive ) Changes in and increased i of invasive and pest species Source Climate Profile 41 . Regional Hazard Mapping A series of maps were developed , using existing land , soil vegetation and land use data to identify areas that are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme climatic events ( Figure ) Details of the preparation of the maps are provided in Chapman and Barrett . The hazard map accounted for topographic wind exposure and relative fuel load according to native vegetation formation . The flood hazard map identified flat areas that pool water , soil drainage , rainfall , topographic slope , position and propensity for water logging . The drought map combined loss with bare soil vulnerability . Bare soil vulnerability was determined as the highest level of bare soil recorded from annual satellite imagery for the period . This level was used as an indicator of ground cover which would be experienced during an extreme drought under modelled conditions . These maps were then used to initiate discussions with communities , based upon the event or events ( drought , and flooding ) that were most likely to affect them . 191

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