NEWS DESK
Shire plans action to combat ‘emergency’ MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s youngest councillor, Sam Hearn has stood in houses flooded by storms that come now annually instead of once in 100 years. Cr Hearn last week gave a graphic account of the effects of climate change already being felt on the Mornington Peninsula when urging his colleagues to declare that the municipality is in the grip of a “climate emergency”. He says residents are removing tonnes of plastic waste from some beaches while other beaches are being lost to rising seawaters. “We are studying the effects of climate change inundation at Balnarring Beach, I’ve stood in homes with residents and shire engineers that are
being regularly inundated … we pay for and maintain the vast majority of the drains that cope with storm surges, our community services teams care for the elderly in their homes as find them in distress during the growing heat waves …” He said the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report “states that as a global community, we could have just 12 years left to implement meaningful actions to limit a climate change catastrophe”. “It’s time to stop thinking about climate change and start taking urgent, significant action,” Cr Hearn said. Council’s unanimous decision to declare a climate emergency was applauded by a packed public gallery at council’s Tuesday 13 August meeting.
While a climate emergency is a call for immediate and urgent action to reverse global warming, it will have little effect globally without the backing and actions of state and federal governments (“Peninsula declares ‘climate emergency’” The News 13/8/19). However, the move does see the shire join 840 local governments across 18 countries in recognising the damage climate change is causing to economies and environments. The shire has called on the state and federal governments to also declare a climate emergency backed by legislated programs. As a result of the climate emergency decision, the shire will develop an action plan setting targets, outcomes, estimated budgets and timeframes.
Cr Simon Brooks said the IPCC showed “we have two years to get our policies and strategies in place - we have a further 10 years to action these in full”. The mayor David Gill said council was calling on the nation to “join the fight for our planet”. “We’ll do everything we can to address and mitigate climate change at a local level but it’s going to take action from the state and federal government to make a real difference,” he said. He said political preferences should be set aside “for the sake of our environment and the future of our next generation”. Cr Hugh Fraser, who raised a notice of motion, said the peninsula is subject to higher risk of extreme storm
events, sea level rise and coastal erosion as a result of climate change. “This climate change emergency resolution will give fresh momentum to council’s resolved commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2021.” In 2015 the CSIRO predicted climate impacts for the greater Melbourne region of increased temperatures; more frequent and intense downpours; rising sea levels; warmer and more acidic seas; more hot days and warm spells; less rainfall in winter and spring; harsher fire weather and longer fire seasons and increased frequency. For details of what the shire is doing to tackle climate change go to mornpen.vic.gov.au/climatechange Keith Platt
No help for threatened beach boxes Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au THERE will be no further steps taken to restore sand to the beach or protect beach boxes at Mt Martha North. A report released on Friday by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) found that the most feasible options at the beach are to “monitor” and, if necessary, reinforce a rock wall protecting the bottom of the cliff and “allow natural processes to take place without further intervention”. “This option aligns with the Victorian Coastal Strategy’s directive to allow natural coastal processes as the preferred approach to coastal erosion management,” the report states. It also recommends Mount Martha North “should be considered a summer beach only”. The report rules out building a rock groyne or offshore reef and says any action taken to restore sand at Mt Martha north would just cause problems elsewhere. “Natural processes” over the past decade have led to sand being scoured from the beach each winter and only partially replaced in summer. During winter storms some beach boxes have collapsed while others have been left sagging on broken stumps. About five have been removed. The loss of sand from the northern section of Mt Martha’s beachfront has seen a build-up in the south where beach box prices are soaring. One real estate agent describes beach boxes as
“the ultimate beach accessory”. The report by Water Technology on the 600 metres of beach north from the Balcombe Creek estuary coincided last week with further collapses of soil and rock from cliffs above the beach boxes. Cracks have also appeared in the bitumen covering the Esplanade between Coolangatta Road and Alice Street. Bores have been drilled to monitor movement in the cliffs above the beach (“Looking into climate change and the bay’s future” The News 4/3/19). The report’s findings will be a blow to dozens of beach box owners who have wanted the state government to use taxpayers’ money to replace sand at the beach and protect it from future losses. An assessment of four engineering options suggested by Water Technology in a 2017 report has shown that none of them would restore sand in either the short or long term along the whole beach or prevent further beach erosion (“Beach repairs could cost $4m” The News 30/10/17). It took three years for the sea to wash away 12,500 cubic metres of sand deposited at Mt Martha beach north in 2010. To ensure public safety over the next 12 months the DELWP will check the state of the cliffs and rock wall every three months. Engineers and staff from the DELWP will be available to discuss and explain the study results and recommendations 1-3pm Saturday 24 August, at Mt Martha Lifesaving Club.
A YELLOW cylinder shows where a probe has been placed to monitor the seaward movement of cliffs above beach boxes at Mt Martha Beach North, top. Further collapse of the rapidly eroding cliffs threatens the stability of the Esplanade, right, and a plea for a tidier beach at Mt Martha South, above. Pictures: Keith Platt
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