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Planning to Reduce Risk: The Wildfire Management Overlay in Victoria, Australia
Author(s) -
HUGHES RACHEL,
MERCER DAVID
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geographical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.695
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-5871
pISSN - 1745-5863
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-5871.2008.00556.x
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , distrust , context (archaeology) , environmental planning , risk management , climate change , resilience (materials science) , disaster risk reduction , environmental resource management , land use planning , business , geography , land use , political science , engineering , environmental science , civil engineering , ecology , physics , computer security , archaeology , finance , computer science , law , biology , thermodynamics
In a world where climate change is a ‘given’, the concepts of vulnerability, resilience and risk are now pivotal in public policy debates in many countries. Within this context, planning controls are designed to facilitate safe, sustainable and prosperous communities. In line with March's (2007, 11) observation that ‘one important “reason to plan” is the reduction of risk’, Victoria's Wildfire Management Overlay (WMO) was developed with the aim of mitigating wildfire risk through the identification of high risk areas and ensuring that minimum fire protection measures are implemented. The need for such an Overlay is becoming increasingly apparent as climate change contributes to the growing frequency and intensity of bushfires in Australia. Empirical research has found that, by following WMO prescriptions, the risk of a dwelling igniting from direct flame or radiant heat generated in a one in 50‐year fire event can be greatly minimised. Yet not all local Councils in Victoria have built the WMO into their land use planning processes and schemes. Barriers to adoption include: lack of political will, a distrust of ‘over‐regulation’, lack of training and mentoring of planning staff, and potential conflicts with vegetation conservation objectives.