Published: 20 August 2012

Grants to foster regional climate adaptation research

The Federal Government has announced a grants program to fund partnerships between research institutions and regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) organisations that will enable NRMs to plan for, and adapt to, climate change.

The aim of the new grants program is to ‘improve the capacity of regional organisations to plan for climate change and capitalise on [carbon offset] opportunities’. Credit: Paul Arps/flickr (under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 licence)

The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, announced $8 million in funding – sourced from carbon price revenue – for the NRM Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Grants Program.

‘Understanding the impacts of a changing climate at a regional level is important to guide sustainable land management,’ Mr Dreyfus said.

‘Changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events will affect water availability, water and soil quality, fire risk and the incidence of pests, weeds and disease.’

He says the program will provide funding to research institutions to work with regional NRM organisations to deliver information on climate change, its impacts and potential adaptation responses.

‘This program will improve the capacity of regional organisations to plan for climate change and capitalise on the opportunities provided by the Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative and the Biodiversity Fund,’ Mr Dreyfus said.

The $44 million Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund will support regional NRM organisations to develop plans to guide where carbon farming projects should be located in the landscape. These can also be used by landholders to identify and develop activities to reduce carbon pollution.

Eligible research institutions can apply for funding under the Impacts and Adaptation Grants Program

Source: Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency

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