Gold Coast moves to co-ordinate climate action
23/10/2009 1:41:00 PM
A one-day key summit planned for the Gold Coast on Monday (26/10) will seek to co-ordinate climate change action across all levels of government.Coming in the lead-up to international climate change talks in Copenhagen, close to 80 delegates from across all tiers of government, academia, science, business and the community will meet to agree on a set of themed principles for co-operation.
These will then be communicated to Federal Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.
Initiated by Gold Coast City Council as part of its five-year Climate Change Strategy, the summit will feature opening remarks by Director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Professor Jean Palutikof, from Griffith University.
Queensland Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Kate Jones, will wrap up proceedings at 5 pm.
Council’s Chair of Sustainable City Future Committee, Councillor Peter Young, said the summit would identify ways all levels of government, business and the community could work co-operatively to make a difference on climate change.
“There are numerous actions being undertaken by governments across Australia, different research being carried out at various institutions, and plenty of activities and goodwill within the community,” Cr Young said.
“We want to discuss ways to harness these efforts to ensure that we are better prepared to deliver real environmental improvements, particularly on what is agreed at Copenhagen.”
“The summit will seek to develop a set of agreed, practical and robust principles for cross-governmental management and co-ordination.
“We will then communicate these outcomes to Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, ahead of the Copenhagen deliberations.’
He said a broad cross-section of Federal and State government departments, business, academia and community would be represented, with a strong contingent from local governments and universities.
“Leading academics and researchers will come from the University of Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith and Bond Universities.
“Also participating will be experts from CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship and the Queensland Climate Change Centre for Excellence.
“Business, Professional and Community organisations will include the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the Brisbane Institute, Tourism Queensland, the Community Climate Network Australia, Energex, Oxfam, World Wildlife Fund Australia, GECKO, Greenfleet and the Planning Institute of Australia.”
“At a local government level Gold Coast City Council will be joined by delegates from Brisbane, Toowoomba, Mackay, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich Regional Councils as well as the South East Queensland Council of Mayors and Local Government Association of Queensland.”
