Understanding the impact of natural disasters on rural land managers
North Coast Local Land Services is working on a project to understand the impacts of successive natural disasters on North Coast rural land managers and the actions they take to prepare for these.
The project is working with rural land managers to understand what prevents or encourages them to participate in activities that strengthen their property’s ability to withstand natural disasters.
Land managers will be given the opportunity to provide their knowledge on the effectiveness of land management practices to reduce the impacts of natural disasters.
How will the project help rural land managers?
Rural land managers are some of the state’s most affected communities from natural disasters. The findings of this project will help the NSW Government design programs to assist rural land managers to prepare for more frequent and severe natural disasters.
Can I be involved?
North Coast Local Land Services welcomes contributions from all its rural land managers and customers. If you are interested in participating in this study (April – June 2023), please register via our online form.
You can also get in touch with the team by emailing admin.northcoast@lls.nsw.gov.au
More about the project
This project commenced July 2022 and will run to December 2023. It is a collaboration between North Coast Local Land Services, Resilience NSW, Department of Primary Industries, Department of Customer Service and Department of Planning and Environment.
The project will be delivered in stages.
Delivery stages
Stage 1 – Establishment and data collection:
Mapping the damage and impact of natural disasters in the North Coast region from 2017-2022, gathering data and developing a research plan.
Stage 2 – Engaging land managers:
Rural land managers in the North Coast Region will be invited to participate in our study:
- Survey (online or over the phone) and interviews with impacted rural land managers.
- Site assessments – property visits to evaluate the effectiveness of activities to prepare for and reduce the impact of natural disasters.
Stage 3 – Results and anyalsis:
Results will be used to improve North Coast Local Land Services and NSW Government program design and delivery. These improvements will aim to better assist land managers to increase their property’s ability to withstand increasing natural disasters.
Is the project targeting specific areas?
While North Coast Local Land Services acknowledges that successive natural disasters severely impact built assets, urban people and central business districts, this project will only engage rural land managers. It will also focus on the natural (soil, vegetation, water, etc) and agricultural (stock/herds, crops, fencing, etc) assets they manage.
North Coast Local Land Services will seek input from across the region, and within different agricultural industries and land uses. The project hopes to engage rural land managers who have been impacted by natural disasters to varying degrees, from not at all or indirectly to directly impacted. This will assist in obtaining a complete understanding of individual and community perspectives.
North Coast Local Land Services is delivering this $490,000 project ‘“Scaling up and accelerating preparedness and resilience within natural disaster fatigued communities”, funded under the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF) is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.