Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program
Latest on this project - June 2024
North West Queensland is well advanced in the development of its Regional Drought Resilience Plan (RDRP) led by project managers from Yellow Company – Jo Killick and Kate Lavrencic.
Engagement has taken place across the region to understand past impacts of drought, challenges faced by communities and producers and key priorities for improving preparedness for future droughts. This includes a series of community-based workshops held in October, targeted stakeholder meetings and workshops held throughout October and November, and an online forum was hosted on 6 December 2023.
A draft RDRP has been reviewed, with the plan now being reviewed by CSIRO. There will be an opportunity for additional input following the review by CSIRO.
The Plan will be presented to a future meeting following the CSIRO review.
The RDRP program is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Queensland Government.
Background
The Regional Drought Resilience Planning (RDRP) program is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Queensland Government to support regions to prepare for future droughts.
The NWQ RDRP will support decisions, actions and investment to proactively manage drought risk.
The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) has partnered with the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE) with the purpose to have an impact on how regions can survive and thrive into the future.
NWQROC has partnered with DAF and RECoE to deliver the NWQ RDRP project.
Based on evidence and collaboration though partnering with local councils, regional stakeholders and other organisations, the plans – led and owned by the community – aim to drive decisions, actions and investments to proactively manage drought risk.
Each plan will build upon the Regional Resilience Strategy as part of the Queensland Government’s Strategy for Disaster Resilience, led by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
The RDRP program in North West Queensland is being delivered in partnership with NWQROC and comprises eight local government areas:
Burke Shire Council
Carpentaria Shire Council
Cloncurry Shire Council
Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire Council
Flinders Shire Council
McKinlay Shire Council
Mount Isa City Council
Richmond Shire Council
(Croydon and Etheridge Shire councils are included in the Hinterland and Gulf RDRP).
The RDRP project is being delivered through three rounds of consultation led by project managers from Yellow Company – Jo Killick and Kate Lavrencic.
A series of workshops were held in October 2023 by Rural Economies Centre of Excellence and Southern Gulf NRM to hear from the community about activities and initiatives that can help to mitigate the impact of future drought.
Throughout October and November, the project team led a similar activity at meetings and workshops with other stakeholders in the region.
More than 50 stakeholders from across the region connected with the workshops to provide feedback on past impacts of drought, gaps and barriers to managing drought impacts and future improvements and initiatives.
An online regional forum was hosted online on 6 December.
The purpose of the regional forum was to:
Share insights into regional drought priorities
Facilitate scenario planning session
Consult on drought actions, initiatives and activities
Understand existing partnerships on current initiatives/programs and identify gaps
Seek involvement from organisations as implementation partners.
Project milestones
At the NWQROC meeting in Mount Isa on 6 September 2023, the group provided feedback on preliminary themes and participated in a workshop to prioritise drought resilience actions or activities.
Throughout October and November 2023, the project team engaged with stakeholders in the region to further refine resilience actions and activities.
At the NWQROC meeting on 29-30 November 2023, the project team presented key findings and strategies from their engagement.
On 6 December 2023, a regional forum was hosted by the project team to collect detailed feedback from councils and key stakeholders to undertake drought scenario planning, refine resilience ideas into actions and activities; and identify implementation pathways.
Draft NWQ Regional Drought Resilience Plan 2024-30 and its resilience strategic and pathways were presented at the 5 April 2024 Board meeting.
More information
Australian Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry - Regional Drought Resilience Planning
Rural Economies Centre of Excellence - Future Drought Fund Regional Drought Resilience Planning
RDRPs were completed in a first round in 2022 by five regions and are available on a dedicated RDRP platform: www.rdrpqld.org.au
