Drought is a common occurrence for Western Australian farming communities. A new consultation project under the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund is seeking to better understand the drought impacts of Southern Wheatbelt communities and develop resilience plans to help meet these future challenges.
We are working with the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, through the Wheatbelt Development Commission on this project. The project will talk with communities to gauge attitudes toward drought and contribute to a Drought Vulnerability and Resilience Framework for the Southern Wheatbelt region.
The Resilience Framework has been developed by project advisory groups from the Mid-West, Wheatbelt and Great Southern. It underpins the Regional Drought Resilience Plan which is designed to capture the overall experiences of drought across this vast region and uncover innovative ways to build resilience across agricultural industries.
Wheatbelt NRM Operations Manager, Rebecca Palumbo, is excited at the prospect of uncovering community insights, “We are an organisation driven by community action. When we were invited to spear-head this community consultation project, we jumped at the opportunity.”
“The chance to collect drought stories from the Southern Wheatbelt and have that feedback form the basis for a Regional Drought Resilience Plan is a very positive step toward building a solid future for our natural resources.”
Communities around Dumbleyung, Wagin, Lake Grace, Kulin and Kondinin will have the opportunity to share their drought experiences through online surveys, one-on-one interviews and community group meetings. The online survey is open now through our new Your2Cents portal and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. Every completed survey goes into the draw to win one of five $100 Mastercard gift cards.
The survey and more information can be found here. The consultation period has already commenced and closes at the end of April.
This program is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.