Everything We Need SBS Audio

First Nations People have a wealth of traditional knowledge and skills to adapt to climate change, gained through thousands of years of survival and resilience. In Central Victoria, the Dja Dja Wurrung people have developed a climate change strategy called "Turning Wrong Way Climate Right Way." The strategy emphasises a holistic approach to climate change adaptation, incorporating all elements of the ecosystem and traditional knowledge. It includes specific initiatives, such as re-landscaping waterways, forest gardening, controlled cultural burns, and nature-based flood mitigation.

Newly arrived communities can be more vulnerable to climate change and during climate events, they are often among the most severely affected. Through the story of the Karen community in Bendigo, see how we can adapt to climate change with a strength-based, social justice approach.

YIMBY is short for ‘yes in my backyard’. It’s a community-run, backyard composting scheme that was founded in 2020 in Castlemaine, Victoria. To organisers' knowledge, there’s no other program like it in Australia. Co-founder Lucy Young says YIMBY is a way of “sharing high-level composting skills with lots of keen composters, and supporting them to run micro-processing hubs at home." Joel Meadows, the other co-founder, explains the approach as super small scale and super local, with “low carbon input and low carbon output." Hear about the potential of schemes like this to help build resilient communities.

Maryborough is a regional town on Djaara country. The town is home to the Maryborough Education Centre, a primary, secondary, and special needs school. Maryborough faces socio-economic challenges and is ranked as the most disadvantaged local government area in Victoria. It’s also a community where individuals like Troy Butler, the school's groundsman and sustainability officer, are dedicated to making a positive impact, particularly in the area of climate change. Hear about the power of mentorship, vulnerability, and community action in preparing and supporting young people to adapt to a changing climate.

Maldon is a picturesque town in Djaara Country, about an hour and a half drive north of Melbourne. It's known for its heritage streetscape and goldfields history. It has an older but active population with around eighty community groups. As a town surrounded by bush and filled with weatherboard miners' cottages, the threats and impacts of heatwaves and bushfires are serious. Enter Amy Atkinson, coordinator of the Maldon Neighbourhood Centre, who subtly steers the community towards climate adaptation. By focusing on tangible impacts like heatwaves and bushfires, the ‘Climate Ready Maldon’ project fosters crucial conversations and empowers locals to confront the challenges of a changing climate.

In Mildura, regional Victoria, there are climate champions and farmers battling dust storms, water woes, and working to build a resilient future. From a cooperative that shares unused farming land with newly immigrated farmers, to an innovative water bank, the Mildura community are not just ‘surviving'; they're making tools for a better future.