Climate, energy and disasters are crucial and growing issues for Australia. The ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) initiates and supports the development of transdisciplinary research teams across ANU with the aim of securing long-term, large-scale research funding and ensuring broad societal impact as well as leading outreach, policy engagement, facilitation and coordination roles. The project, “Partnering with local communities in regional Australia to increase resilience to flood risk” funded by the Australian Government National Emergency Management Agency, consists of a team of researchers (drawn from the fields of hydrology, social science, ecology and economics) who are partnering with communities to develop the first ever Australian guidelines on Nature-based Solutions [Nbs] for flood mitigation and resilience. NbS approaches to flood mitigation aim to protect, sustainably manage, and restore ecosystems to meet critical societal needs today, while building long-term environmental and economic resilience.

Project: Evaluation of Public Health Risks and Benefits for Nature-based Solutions to Flooding

Summary:

Climate change is increasing the incidence and intensity of extreme weather events, including flooding. The severity of flood impacts can be mitigated by working with nature in local areas, not only by building dams and levees which can be harmful to the environment. Some examples of nature-based solutions to flooding include reafforestation, the development of wetlands, reactivation of ancient river courses or paleochannels. A team at the Institute for Energy, Climate and Disaster Solutions is Disasters (ICEDS) is developing national guidelines aimed at supporting local councils to choose nature-based approaches for flood mitigation that will not only reduce flood risk but will maintain /restore catchment ecology and connections between rivers and floodplains. Detailed hydrological and hydrodynamic modelling is being conducted in a number of Australian local government areas to support local decision-making about the selection and implementation of nature-based solution and to inform national guideline development.

An important aspect of the project involves estimating the costs and benefits of various nature-based solutions. Climate change and its consequences creates risks to human health, and the importance of environmental health as a branch of public health is growing, with a National Health and Climate Strategy launched in December 2023.  While reducing flood impacts will prevent flood-related health risk, modifying the natural environment to address flooding could result in both unforeseen health risks as well as public health benefits to the community. For example, wetlands could increase the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, but also could provide recreational and mental health benefits. Over a five-week period, this project will identify and evaluate potential public health issues relevant to natural solutions to flooding in Australia, and with regard to the project’s NbS case study catchment sites.