Building drought resilience so our regions can thrive into the future

What is the purpose of drought resilience planning?

Regional drought resilience planning enables stakeholders to identify vulnerabilities and develop strategies to reduce risks and potential impacts – building resilience across four key areas.

  • People, culture and community
  • Infrastructure and built environment
  • Landscape and natural environment
  • Economy

Our approach and engagement processes encouraged community and regional stakeholders to express their own observations of drought and resilience. We have combined the ‘local’ with ‘outside’ definitions to produce the regional understanding that underpins our planning and identifies drought impacts, risks and pathways to resilience.

Queensland RDRP elements of drought resilience

View Regional Drought Resilience Plans

Plans Completed
Plans In Development
on a region for more info
Burdekin and Charters Towers Region

Burdekin and Charters Towers

View plan
Darling Downs Region

Darling Downs

View plan
Fitzroy and Capricornia Region

Fitzroy and Capricornia

View plan
South West Queensland Region

South West Queensland

View plan
Cape York and Torres Strait Region

Torres Strait and Cape York

View plan

Our vision for drought resilient regions

The components of drought resilience plans focus on three key pillars to plan and monitor, respond to drought events and build resilience to limit future impacts.

Pillar 1

Planning and monitoring

Plan for drought responses, implement drought monitoring and early warning systems

Pillar 2

Respond to drought events

Manage responses during drought by dealing with impacts, vulnerability and risk

Pillar 3

Build future resilience

Implement resilience measures to limit future impacts of drought and better respond to drought

Discover more about the regions

Burdekin and Charters Towers

The Burdekin and Charters Towers region features coastal beaches, a fertile river delta, dry and sandy plains, sandstone ranges, basalt walls, dunes, and conservation areas

Darling Downs

Land in the Darling Downs region has always been fertile, and its bounties were enjoyed by First Nations owners even before the arrival of Europeans.

Fitzroy and Capricornia

The Fitzroy and Capricornia region experiences extreme weather events such as major and minor floods, storm surges, tropical lows, cyclones, bushfire, heatwaves and drought.

South West Queensland

The South West Queensland region is often referred to as the ‘cornerstone’ of Queensland, with agriculture and agricultural supply-chain industries as a major source of income.

Torres Strait and Cape York

The Torres Strait and Cape York region is an iconic part of Queensland, bounded by ocean on three sides and including the northern most tip of the Australian continent.
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Quotes from the communities

During our engagement we listened to the views of community members and stakeholders.

The big issue for rural people with drought or any kind of natural disaster is stigma – weakness of not being able to cope with the situation and the risk of being the one that lost the family farm.

Sean Winning TRACC

Burdekin and Charters Towers

Greater connectivity has additional economic and social benefits including liveability, worker attraction, connectivity to health, education, and financial services.

Casie Scott NBN

Burdekin and Charters Towers

Drought resilience will result in a regional Australia that can endure deeper, longer droughts, and recover from them sooner.

Community member

Burdekin and Charters Towers

We have gone through this before!

Local Aboriginal Elder

Darling Downs

People need to know what is available. A local extension officer is vital. People need to know them and trust them. They are the eyes and the ears of a community.

Community member

Darling Downs

Look at better ways in managing the land to rely less on water supplies and ensure that we are utilising what we have to its full potential.

Community member

Darling Downs

Water is integral to Aboriginal culture and belief systems.

Community member

Darling Downs

keep building the infrastructure and don’t get complacent because times are very good now…

Community member

Darling Downs

One of the key issues for future growth surrounds access to water, and the availability of water for new intensive agriculture developments…

Western Downs Mayor

Darling Downs

Drought resilience will result in a regional Australia that can endure deeper, longer droughts, and recover from them sooner.

Community member

Fitzroy and Capricornia

Learn from the past, don’t overstock, set up good water Infrastructure and keep in mind to sell early.

Nev Ferrier

Fitzroy and Capricornia

Increase in livestock, fish stock, and crop losses as a result of the exacerbation of drought conditions may result in significant consequences for already strained business owners and communities.

Community member

South West Queensland

there is much to learn from country dwellers and their capacity for innovation and creativity.

Jean

South West Queensland

Suicide is the 4th highest cause of death amongst Western Queensland males – males [in this region] had the highest rate of death from suicide compared to all PHNs (2.18 times the rate compared to Australia-wide).

Western Queensland Public Health Network

South West Queensland

Substantial impacts to the agricultural community and wider sector are almost certain due to the impact of sustained elevated temperatures on crops, livestock, and the exacerbation of pre-existing drought conditions and underlying bushfire risk.

Queensland State Heatwave Risk Assessment

South West Queensland

Through the RDRP engagement there was a realisation that there is a vulnerability or exposure to the impacts of drought, especially when it comes to issues around water security and increased risk of wildfires.

Community member

Torres Strait and Cape York

Drought is very different here in Cape York than it is down south. Long dry spells or prolonged dry seasons is the language used… not specifically the word ‘drought’.

Community member

Torres Strait and Cape York

Resilience is in having healthy country and if the country is sick then you have a sick community. Country can’t be healthy unless it is lived on. The country needs people on it to see it, observe it and protect it…

Community member

Torres Strait and Cape York

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