Increasing Our Resilience to Climate Change

Viewing climate change through a health lens enables people to be placed at the centre of decision-making and action.

Climate change is having adverse impacts on the health of our communities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlines that these impacts fall into three broad categories:

• Direct impacts such as heat and extreme events
• Indirect impacts via ecosystems, which include disturbance to food supplies and changes in vector-borne disease transmission.
• Indirect impacts via socio-economic systems exemplified by increased poverty and intensification of existing inequalities and migration.

In December 2020, the Western Parkland Councils (WPC) in partnership with the Western Sydney Health Alliance (WSHA) were awarded a grant under the Increasing Resilience to Climate Change program.

The program, led by Local Government NSW (LGNSW) and the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), sought to assist NSW council’s better plan for and respond to heatwaves, storms, floods, drought, and bushfires.

Council, as part of the WPC, developed a resource to provide practical recommendations for how it can take immediate action to increase community resilience to the health impacts of climate change. The resource, Increasing Resilience to Climate Change (IRCC) Project: Review of Local Council Strategies for Climate, Health and Wellbeing in the Western Sydney Region, provides the tools and strategies, underpinned by a health lens, to enhance and drive positive change.