Building climate resilience, safeguarding Casey's coastal region and conserving and protecting and growing Casey's tree canopy cover were topics high on the agenda at this week's Council Meeting.
On Tuesday 20 August 2024, the Climate Resilient Casey 2024-2030 plan, the Casey Coastal Framework, and the Greening Casey 2024-2030-2050 plan were all endorsed by Council.
The Climate Resilient Casey 2024-2030 plan will guide Council and the community to become more climate ready, and manage the risks of climate change impacts, such as heatwaves, storms, bushfires and flooding.
City of Casey Chair of Administrators Noelene Duff PSM said in the latest Casey Conversation's engagement project Shape Your City, both climate change and the environment were revealed to be emerging issues for a large majority of the Casey community.
'The Climate Resilient Casey Plan is structured across four objectives, with action items developed to help Council and the community adapt, survive and thrive in the changing climate. Key actions include investing in greening to increase local biodiversity, and enhancing storm water management and promoting water reuse,' Noelene said.
The Casey Coastal Framework aims to safeguard Casey's coastal region and address the risks posed by coastal hazards and rising sea levels.
As sea levels continue to rise in Western Port Bay, coastal hazards such as land erosion and temporary storm tide inundation pose increasing risks to the region. These hazards are anticipated to have environmental, cultural, economic, and social impacts on Casey's coast.
'For Casey's coastal areas, such as Tooradin, Warneet and Cannons Creek, temporary event-based inundation, and inundation due to sea level rise (and associated shoreline retreat) are the main challenges,' Noelene said.
'Council will now consider adaption planning for the coastal region to understand and strategically manage impacts at a local scale.'
Casey currently manages around 360,000 Council trees and estimate that there are around 300,000 trees on private property. However, our tree canopy cover is low compared to other Local Government Areas.
'Whilst we have been planting and managing our trees, we acknowledge that there are improvements that can be made to manage our urban forest, and to support and educate our community and developers to care for trees and vegetation on private land,' Noelene said.
'Our key goal is to grow our canopy cover from 11.3 per cent in 2018 to 15 per cent by 2030. Greening Casey 2024-2030-2050 sets out how we will increase tree canopy cover across the city, which areas will be targeted for more planting, and how trees and vegetation in the city will be monitored and managed into the future.
'Protecting and enhancing tree canopy cover and vegetation also provides many benefits for our community, including protection from urban heat, a reduction in carbon and providing habitat.'
