Climate change health impact and risk assessment tool: a pilot implementation project SUMMARY REPORT - April 2012

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Colin Nickolas Simmons
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1 Climate change health impact and risk assessment tool: a pilot implementation project SUMMARY REPORT - April 2012 Erica Bell Associate Professor and Deputy Director University Department of Rural Health Associate Professor Paul Turner, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Tasmania in collaboration with Mr Frank Sainsbury, ITSOIL Pty Ltd This project is supported by the Tasmanian Government through the ClimateConnect Community Grants Program and a UTAS Research Enhancement Grant

Computing and Information Systems, University of Tasmania in collaboration with Mr Frank Sainsbury, ITSOIL Pty Ltd This

2 A University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) project led by Associate Professor Erica Bell of UDRH; funded by the Tasmanian Government through the ClimateConnect Community Grants Program and a UTAS Research Enhancement Grant Information systems design, development planning and project management through collaboration with Associate Professor Paul Turner, School of Computing and Information Systems, UTAS. A/Prof Turner also coordinated collaboration with Mr Frank Sainsbury, ITSOIL Pty Ltd who worked on the information systems development. Copyright April 2012 University Department of Rural Health University of Tasmania Locked Bag 1372 Launceston TAS 7250 This research has received ethical approval from The Human Research Ethics Committee (Tasmania) network.

and Information Systems, UTAS. A/Prof Turner also coordinated collaboration with Mr Frank Sainsbury, ITSOIL Pty Ltd who worked on the information systems development.

3 Acknowledgements This effort to create the world s first online health impact and risk assessment tool for climate adaptation would not have been possible without the support of key Tasmanian stakeholders: the Local Government Association of Tasmania and the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority, as well as our three local government authorities who participated in Launceston, the Huon Valley and Sheffield. We thank the staff in these agencies and the many local communities who provided participants. Special thanks are also owed to the climate scientists at the University of Tasmania s Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre drawing on their Technical reports series from their Climate Futures for Tasmania project. Without this contribution given at each workshop by climate change scientist Dr Michael Grose, summarising the local climate predictions and the science behind them, the workshops would not have been possible. Grateful acknowledgement is also made of the support and encouragement that has been given to this project by the Australian Centre for Excellence in Local Government, notably Stefanie Pilloria (Program Manager, Research) and Dr Graham Sansom (Director). We thank also those who supported this project particularly at its inception: Professor Jan McDonald, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania; A/ Prof Grant Blashki, Nossal Institute for Global Health & Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne; Dr Rosalie Woodruff, Huon Valley Councillor; Professor Tony Norton (formerly Professor of Agricultural Ecology at the School of Agricultural Science & Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research).

Valley and Sheffield. We thank the staff in these agencies and the many local communities who provided participants.

4 .we need firm data and expertise around health issues such as Ross River virus we are second guessing health effects because there is no hard research data there s lots of information collected on communicable diseases but we're not sure where that information goes (Launceston community stakeholder workshop) there is a lack of continuity in programs and more and more of the culture is not tapping into local resourcefulness adaptation approaches need to accommodate the fact that for e.g. 50% of the population may have low literacy levels adaptation programs need to engage with these specific realities in communities (Huonville community stakeholder workshop) there is a cumulative effect on resilience of a council and individuals in the community of flooding thus repeated events draw down on the response capability (Sheffield community stakeholder workshop) Participants struggled to set priorities and advise more specific adaptive actions itself a concerning finding. The comment was made also that there are insufficient resources and expertise in government to even begin to decide what adaptive actions are needed for health. Another participant observed that Service delivery can only be properly managed once we know what we need to focus upon and can expect. Another participant commented that Tasmania was behind other states in this area at the governance and policy levels and that the adaptation approaches in other states needed to be adapted for Tasmanian contexts. (project leader s summary of the HIRA workshops)

5 Project overview Background: health, the forgotten sector Climate change is the biggest public health threat of the 21 st century, particularly for socio economically disadvantaged communities, yet health has been the neglected sector and health adaptation is largely neglected in climate policy and practice; Australian health adaptation is far behind developments in the UK Vulnerability to the health effects of climate change is not a simple function of how extreme weather forecasts are: it is the result of complex interactions between climate change, community capacity, and health services Tasmania led the nation in loss of farm income in recent years due to drought; this state has some of the worst health outcomes in the nation Local councils are one of very few mechanisms for addressing and advocating for whole-ofcommunity health needs; health services are one of six key areas of adaptation responsibility for local government in the national Australian policy framework Climate Change Adaptation Actions for Local Government yet councils lack a mechanism for delivering on this particular policy responsibility Health impact and risk assessment (HIA) is an emerging approach for engaging with local community adaptation needs in a climate-changing world, yet to date HIAs have been poorly developed and paper-based and not well integrated with local climate science modelling Project achievements: a tool and an applied climate and health program in Tasmania This project developed the online technology for a health impact and risk assessment tool for which the supporting Tasmanian research had already been published in a leading international journal

health effects of climate change is not a simple function of how extreme weather forecasts are: it is the result of complex interactions between climate change, community capacity, and health

6 The tool was implemented in three diverse Tasmanian council sites and data collected showing the complexity and extent of climate-influenced health issues in Tasmania, as well as key directions for improving the online features of the tool itself The project has been disseminated at national local government research forums and included in the online resources developed by the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority so it is potentially available to all Tasmanian councils (subject to ethics requirements) The project was selected as an abstract by Australia s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) for its 2012 conference and will feature in a journal paper to be submitted to a leading international journal A further $25,000 has been won from UTAS to develop advanced IT capacities for the tool and more funding is being sought to trial the tool nationally; international interest has been expressed in trialling the tool in overseas sites; climate and health has been named as a key strategic core funded area of the University of Tasmania s Strategic Plan the seeding funding by the Climate Connect Office has created an ongoing sustainable program of climate and health applied research and development at the University of Tasmania and a set of state and national partnerships for implementation and dissemination where previously these did not exist Please contact project leader erica.bell@utas.edu.au if you would like a copy of the full report

Tasmanian Councils Authority so it is potentially available to all Tasmanian councils (subject to ethics requirements) The project was selected as an abstract by Australia s National Climate Change

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