Hawkesbury Resilience Project

Learn, Prevent, Prepare: Community Action for a Resilient Hawkesbury

Western Sydney University (Sustainability Education) in partnership with Hawkesbury City Council, Hawkesbury Environment Network, Macquarie Electorate Student Climate Activists, Penrith-Hawkesbury Environmental Educators Network and RCE Greater Western Sydney, was successful in obtaining a AdaptNSW Community Grant (opens in a new window) from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE).

The project, “Learn, Prevent, Prepare: Community Action for a Resilient Hawkesbury”, was an education, engagement and empowerment program designed to respond to climate impacts at multiple touch points. The program, ran primarily by Hawkesbury residents, aimed to inspire the Hawkesbury community to create the social, institutional and physical infrastructure needed to survive and potentially thrive in our changing climate.

The program looked to strengthen community connections and biodiversity resilience in bushfire and flood prone areas, support the health and wellbeing benefits for community participants and develop stronger networks of public and community institutions. Over 18 months the initiative offered the following opportunities to the Hawkesbury community:

• A digital map (opens in a new window) that identifies the huge array of local groups and organisations already contributing to resilience in the Hawkesbury. The map provided a way for Hawkesbury people to find and join existing groups and identify opportunities to build the network.
• One-on-one conversations with other Hawkesbury residents (trained volunteers) to share their concerns about our changing climate and offer potential pathways for individual and community action to help address those concerns.
• Neighbourhood level community workshops to identify the things we can do to learn about, help prevent or prepare for increasingly severe weather and other impacts of concern to residents.
• Forums (opens in a new window)for the Hawkesbury community to come together as a whole to share our resilience stories and discuss opportunities to build resilience.
• A vision for a resilient Hawkesbury, depicted in a painting and developed through ideas put forward by the Hawkesbury community.
• A collection of stories (opens in a new window)that express the many constructive ways Hawkesbury residents are already responding to our changing climate.
• A series of Western Masters Research internships. There were opportunities to undertake projects such as community mapping, social media communications, event management and developing Hawkesbury specific climate change science data and artefacts thereby providing a valuable learning experience.

For more information please contact the Hawkesbury Resilience Project team.

This project is proudly funded by the NSW Government.