$15.9 million to support First Nations led climate action and education

The Albanese Government has today launched the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area Climate Resilience Grant Program to build climate resilience and address climate change impacts in the region.

The grant program is an important component of achieving the goals of the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area Climate Resilience Centre, a $15.9 million investment over 6 years (2022–23 to 2027–28).

Of that $15.9 million, $10.8 million will be made available to selected regional organisations under the program which will fund the recruitment of local First Nations climate resilience officers to conduct adaptation actions and projects to support regional climate adaptation.

The remaining funds support the establishment of the Centre including the employment of a regionally based program coordinator and support the centre’s steering committee and project team.

Grant recipients will deliver adaptation actions that are needed for the region, which is vulnerable to climate change and facing impacts such as sea level rise, heatwaves, drought and extreme rainfall.

Adaptation actions might include community education on climate change science, protecting cultural values being impacted by climate change, collecting local knowledge on climate, and developing regional climate adaptation actions.  

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is working with regional leaders and Traditional Owners to deliver the centre and grant program.

The centre was developed following calls for an approach in the Torres Strait region that could connect Traditional Knowledge, lived experience and scientific analysis to design and identify climate action in communities.  

Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Josh Wilson:

“The Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area Climate Resilience Grant Program is a decisive step in creating a coordinated regional response to climate change in a region with serious and distinctive vulnerabilities.

“These communities are living through climate change now – facing sea level rise, heatwaves, drought and extreme rainfall – but they are also leading the way in adaptation and these grants will further support that work.

“The Government is committed to working collaboratively with First Nations people to address climate change and its impacts.”