On 1st August 2013, EIANZ NSW delivered Learning to Adapt 5 – a professional development event to build the capacity of professionals to respond to climate change. L2A5 was delivered in collaboration with ACCARNSI, the NSW node of NCCARF with 134 attendees. Edge Environment’s Tom Davies has led the Learning to Adapt Sub-Committee and has worked hard with other committee members including Edge’s Sarah Campbell and Bayside’s Liz Floyd to deliver the most recent event.
EIANZ NSW’s Learning to Adapt series is providing leadership to a broad range of professionals. By bringing together leading scientists, regulators, policy developers and business people to discuss approaches to climate change risk and adaptation measures, the forums provide a unique opportunity to understand what is happening in a very segmented area and to understand the necessity for a cross- sectorial approach. Leader’s in their field, from food producers to infrastructure providers and financial institutions allow others to learn from their successes and their failures. By hearing directly from scientists, professionals can identify what risks their business or sector may face due to climate change, and by engaging in training on topics such as risk assessment and legislation and regulation they can take leadership within their organisation to prioritise risks and implement action plans to mitigate the risk . Ultimately, this knowledge will filter throughout organisations and businesses and result in the community and industry being better prepared to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Learning to Adapt started in 2010 as a NSW Division initiative to raise awareness about the need to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Since the first event in April 2010, the series has delivered five events, Learning to Adapt 1 to 4 worked towards the aim of raising awareness of the need to adapt, and L2A5, was the first event in a series of skills development events. Over the course of the next year it is intended that the L2A series be a pilot for a national series of professional development events. The Department of Industry Innovation Climate Change Science and Tertiary Education have been engaged and it is hoped that if the NSW training events are successful that we can secure some funding to expand the series to be a national series that can deliver ongoing professional development as an EIANZ course for members.
Green Globe Award Finalist
EIANZ NSW’s Learning to Adapt was recently announced as a finalist for a prestigious Green Globe Award for Climate Change Leadership. This exciting announcement recognises the important role Learning to Adapt is playing in climate change leadership and recognises the hard work put in by the team of volunteers since 2010.
