Conservation > Land conservation > Sustainable land management > Climate change adaptation

Climate change adaptation

Climate change is a key threatening process to natural systems and everything that relies on those systems. It will affect water cycles, soil processes, biodiversity, fire frequency and intensity and the spread of pests and disease. Communities that depend on these natural resources will need to adapt to maintain and improve their quality of life. A changing climate is a significant challenge to the sustainable management of natural resources and DENR is proactive in addressing climate risk to achieve a sustainable natural resources base for the current and future generations of South Australians.

DENR is responding to the challenges and opportunities of climate change and is working to achieve natural resources management systems that are adaptive and resilient to the impacts of climate change. Failure to adapt may expose South Australian landscapes to severe and long-term consequences, including reduced productivity, threats to biosecurity, less reliable water availability and the loss of unique and essential natural systems and species. Acting now will minimise the detrimental impacts of climate change and is likely to reduce costs in the long term.

DENR is well positioned to contribute to South Australia’s response to a changing climate.

DENR provides strategic policy advice, programs and support for a landscape scale approach to conservation and sustainable land use and management, in response to the challenges of climate change. This includes contributing to the delivery of the State Government's climate change strategies:

• Tackling Climate Change: South Australia's Greenhouse Strategy (2007-2020) Natural Resources Sector goal: South Australia's natural resources sector and ecosystems will be managed sustainably with optimum resilience and capacity to adapt to climate change
• State NRM Plan Goal 1: Landscape scale management that maintains healthy natural systems and is adaptive to climate change
• Draft Climate Change Adaptation Framework for South Australia Objective 3: Resilient, well-functioning natural systems and sustainable, productive landscapes.

DENR delivers climate change natural resources management projects in partnership with other government agencies, CSIRO, universities, NRM Boardsand industry:

• Assisting regional NRM boards to identify climate change vulnerability and adaptation options
• Development of more sustainable farming systems and land use options to maintain soil stability, prevent soil erosion and enhance biodiversity. This includes participation in the Future Farm Industries CRC
• Development of modelling and analytical tools to improve our understanding of the impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies on natural resources. This includes predicting potential climate change impacts within SA cropping zones on wheat grain yields, stubble biomass and the frequency that stubble biomass levels may be insufficient to protect land from wind and water erosion.
• Collaboration with two Premiers Science Research Fund projects: Transects for Environmental Monitoring and Decision Making (TREND) and Climate Change, Communities and Environment: Building research capability to identify climate change vulnerability and adaptation options for South Australian landscapes
• Establishing the potential for soil carbon sequestration through farming practices in collaboration with the National Soil Carbon Research Program, under the CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship
• Improving our knowledge of carbon sequestration from revegetation
• Landscape analysis of the potential impacts, both positive and negative, of large-scale tree planting on natural resources in response to a National carbon market.