The HLbL calculation using infinite-volume QED (Mainz and RBC)

Planning processes:

These are strategic and administrative procedures and modus operandi by which agencies prescribe and authorize desired action in anticipation that such action will provide public benefit or avoid public disbenefits.

Improved land use planning and building controls are a key climate change adaptation mechanism identified in the federal government’s position paper on climate change adaptation (DCCEE 2010). Planning processes are generally complex with responsibilities shared by both State and local governments. Generally planning policies, strategies, legislation and plans for regional development are prepared by State governments. Contained within these provisions are various planning tools and instruments such as zones and overlays, assessment criteria. In flood management for example, local government is responsible for acquiring flood information, using this information as a basis for risk assessment and incorporating it into compliant planning schemes. Local government is primarily responsible for planning decisions, within State statutory settings, but State governments may also influence or approve developments of certain classes.

To understand the potential of planning regimes for enhancing climate change adaptation, it is necessary to consider this in context of the legal arrangements for environmental governance. These include those relating to climate change recognition and adaptation that perform a number of different functions: stating substantive values, strategies and outcomes; prescribing processes and procedures to enable and in some cases to require the formation of plans and instruments to

realize these values, strategies and outcomes; creating sets of associations rights and duties designed to implement these plans and instruments; ensuring that these associated rights and duties can respectively be protected and enforced by the executive agencies of government and ultimately the judicial agencies of government. Some of these functions are information; some are descriptive; and increasingly many are prescriptive. It is the relationship between them that has become important in the context of ensuring compliance and enabling enforcement.

As introduced in discussion on the previous mechanism (regulation by prescription), there is a clear distinction to be drawn between the existence of legal arrangements designed to enable or require climate change adaptation; the capacity of these legal arrangements to do so in practice; the differentiated capacity of these legal arrangements to be enforced; and ultimately the extent to which the implementation of these legal arrangements actually achieved the outcomes for which they have been designed. The significance of these points is that a raft of statutory and institutional arrangements are in place which could in principle support adaptation, but their use and efficacy hitherto has been limited in some areas, and adhoc in others. In short, the law is only as effective as the context in which it operates and thus assessment must be made in the context of broader policy and planning issues which inhibit effective implementation, such as (i) information and knowledge gaps, including missing stakeholder contributions, (ii) overlap, ambiguity, or contradictions in legislative requirements or processes, (iii) inappropriate scale or scope of implementation and regulatory arrangements, (iv) incentive gaps and conflicts for private and public sector actors that risk impeding adaptation, including shortfalls in accountability and transparency arrangements, or perverse public revenue or funding linkages, (v) conflicting strategic policy goals frameworks, which create unintended outcomes, and (vi) the availability or lack thereof of human, financial and other (i.e. technical) resources (Hussey et al. 2012).

Environmental planning law frameworks incorporate a range of different pieces of legislation that regulate land use planning decisions for development, and this legislation can and will vary depending on the geography of the land. For example, QLD, VIC and NSW all have legislation relating specifically to coastal management.

The term ‘planning frameworks’ needs to be defined broadly as including everything from “the strategic planning phase through to post-consent mechanisms” and

“building and construction” (Ghanem and Ruddock 2011: 17). In New South Wales, for example, the planning framework embraces a broad raft of strategic planning tools including the New South Wales State Plan, Metropolitan and regional strategies, Local environmental plans (LEPs), Standard Instrument (Standard LEP), State environmental planning policies (SEPPs), and Coastal policies and strategies.

In recent years, a number of the states have amended their planning law framework to take into account climate risks. For example, in Victoria, the Victorian Coastal Strategy 2008 was developed, and associated laws amended, to incorporate climate change (see de Wit and Webb 2010). To enable these state reforms, new

institutional arrangements have been established, for example, in Victoria, the Victorian Coastal Council has been established as the peak body for the strategic planning and management of the Victorian coast, as well as the Regional Coastal Boards (RCB) – Western, Central and Gippsland.

A weakness in current planning processes is the lack of consistency applied in supporting development initiatives, particularly in respect to achieving both State and local government aspirations. In many instances relevant state Ministers can proceed with a development if it is deemed to be a “critical infrastructure project” i.e.

if it is deemed to be essential to the State for economic, social or environmental reasons”. The Kurnell Desalination Plant is one such development, so too new electricity infrastructure over 250MW. The City of Melbourne case study suggests that where State governments take the lead on a development process within a local government's boundary, it is not compelled to act in accordance with local government strategies, including climate change adaptation strategies, and so different developments within close proximity could be inconsistent with achieving local aspirations for adaptation.

The flood case study draws attention to other planning problems. The study reports on barriers to incorporating up-dated information into planning schemes in both Victoria and Queensland, including a ten-year interval before some planning instruments become due for revision, the complexity of approval processes, cost, compensation liabilities and competing pressures. These can all prevent timely incorporation of flood data, including climate change information, into planning schemes. The Productivity Commission adaptation review also found that climate change risks are not consistently managed in land-use planning schemes, with local governments hampered by a lack of guidance from state governments and financial and expertise constraints (Productivity Commission 2012: 151).

Data accuracy, assumptions and collection techniques aside, combinations of future changes such as development and climate change are expected to alter catchment hydrological conditions; what was once a 1:100 year event may become a more frequent occurrence. A study by Melbourne Water on the impacts of climate change on flooding found that rainfall intensity over five urban catchments in Melbourne was likely to increase and that the interval between large scale events would decrease.

Using existing tools and models, they found a 30% increase in rainfall intensities was likely by 2030. While results varied from catchment to catchment typical results from this analysis indicated the 2070 1 in 5 year design ARI event was equivalent to the present 1 in 10 year ARI event and the 2070 1 in 100 year ARI event was equivalent to the 1 in 300 year ARI event (Pedruco and Watkinson 2010). Similarly, studies suggest the urban heat island effect caused by intensification of development can exacerbate climate change impacts over specific areas (Coutts et al 2010).

New approaches to planning are advocated that focus on ecological systems. To manage flooding, for examples, some researchers suggest that work needs to be

done primarily in the upper catchment to impede water flow. Thus, rather than clearing and straightening water channels, vegetation actually needs to be encouraged to grow inside them and for water to spill over onto the floodplain. This is an approach that strongly contrasts with current practices and community views (Wenger, Hussey et al. forthcoming); (Parliament of Victoria 2012: 114-118). Upper catchments would be encouraged to flood and hold water temporarily in wetlands or detention basins and then gradually release it back into the system. Such an approach demands a totally different governance framework for planning that is more attune to catchment management principles, taking into account different actions needed by different stakeholders along the physical geography of a catchment from upper, to middle then to lower catchment. A business case that applies ecosystem approaches to sediment reduction in the Moreton Bay area was recently prepared by the Queensland Conservation Council in collaboration with university researchers as part of the Healthy Waterways Partnership. It found that 70% of the sediment is coming from 30% of the region, suggesting that it is possible to target activities to specific localities. This example also suggests that in the Australian context, ecosystem approaches would be cost effective in terms of water quality and supply, as well as having side benefits for fisheries and wildlife. The value of avoided flood damage costs was not included in this study (QCC 2012).

Ecosystem approaches to climate change mitigation and adaptation are probably the least understood in Australia. A reason for lack of understanding about this approach could be the segregation between traditional impact (e.g. flood management) and natural resource management disciplines. However, ecosystem approaches are widely used overseas as a strategy to adapt to climate change related flooding. They can mitigate the impacts of flooding for existing as well as future development, and thus have a wider reach than development planning.