About
The ‘Climate Change Resilience in The West’ Initiative supports resilience building and emissions reduction efforts that are healthy, just, and regenerative for the people and environment of Melbourne’s West.
Melbourne’s West is Wurundjeri, Bunurong, and Wadawarrung Country, and with diverse, capable, and creative communities, the region has strong foundations for such resilience. Supporting this resilience is important as we recover from the pandemic and tackle climate change and its implications.
Yet as the centre of much of the Victorian Government’s ‘Big Build’, the West is undergoing rapid and significant change, while also grappling with several health, environmental, employment, and housing challenges that, unless addressed, will be exacerbated by climate change. This Initiative therefore seeks to support the strengths, diversities, and knowledges of the West’s communities to address these challenges and build a healthy and sustainable future, by partnering with communities and the organisations that work with them.
As a multi-impact Initiative, the ‘Climate Change Resilience in The West’ Initiative connects several priority areas including: responding to the health implications of climate change such as increasing incidence of heatwaves (addressed by the Foundation’s Hot Spots Initiative) and challenges for food security (see the Foundation’s support of Moving Feast and Foodprint Melbourne); urban greening and urban design; housing; and next economy jobs. The Initiative supports and connects a range of existing work and partners already focused on climate change challenges, while also identifying gaps and catalysing future activities.
To do this, the Initiative is:
- Identifying potential leverage points to shift central challenges;
- Supporting, connecting, and catalysing actions targeting those leverage points; and
- Sharing insights, methods, challenges, and stories from across those actions