Murray River Council, along with Berrigan Shire, Edward River and Federation Councils are working in partnership to develop and deliver a Regional Drought Resilience Plan for the Southern Riverina area. The project is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the NSW Government under the Future Drought Fund.
The objective of this plan is to come up with practical solutions for addressing gaps in the ways communities prepare for and respond to drought. The plan will present:
- historical and predicted impacts of drought in each region;
- an evidence based, triple bottom line strategy to mitigate or adapt to future drought impacts; and
- a prioritised list of actions and pathways to build drought resilience, specific to the region and addresses the needs of the community.
Murray River Council mayor, Frank Crawley said the development of the plan is underway.
“A key element to the success of the plan is the stakeholder and community consultation we are about to undertake across our Local Government Areas.”
“We need input from our communities to ensure the lessons of the millennial drought, and other recent drought experiences can be considered and learnings from those experiences included in the Plan.”
“Community engagement sessions in Murray River Council will be held in Wakool, Barham and Moulamein across 3 day in October.”
“These are drop-in sessions so we encourage interested residents to attend and chat to the team when it suits.”
Community drop-in sessions within Murray River council are as follows:
- Wakool Bowling Club, Wednesday 11 October 1pm-6pm
- Barham Riverside Reception Centre, Thursday 12 October 10am – 4pm
- Moulamein Bowling Club, Friday 13 October 1pm- 6pm
All Councils see the development of the Southern Riverina Drought Resilience Plan as a positive outcome for the area and a chance to highlight not only the synergies between their communities, but the fact that Councils are often called on to assist each other and have developed highly effective working relationships, particularly during recent events.
“All Councils are asking their communities to actively engage with this process so their ideas and thoughts on drought preparation, management and recovery are captured and implemented in consistent ways across the Southern Riverina area,” said Cr Cawley said.
“Input from our local residents is valuable, so please consider dropping in if you can, or tap the shoulder of someone else you know that might be interested.”
