The City of Newcastle (CN) has identified climate change action and nature-based solutions as key priority areas in its new Environmental Strategy.
These priorities will help define CN’s key environmental objectives and initiatives during the next decade and are designed to align with the sustainability outcomes of the draft Community Strategic Plan, Newcastle 2040, which is on public exhibition until 28 February 2022.
The draft Newcastle Environment Strategy will be informed by extensive community consultation before being finalised and presented to the Council for adoption.
More than 4,500 pieces of feedback collected during the development of the Community Strategic Plan, quarterly surveys, Climate Action Plan engagement, and a waste specific survey, have already been reviewed to understand the local community’s environmental priorities.
Targeted stakeholder consultation will commence in February 2022, with key priority areas helping to facilitate discussion during workshops.
This will include looking at the options for a circular economy that would design out waste, keep materials in use, turn waste into a resource and explore how to build resilience to the effects of climate change.
The consultation will also look at how natural solutions to social problems can protect, manage or restore the environment in a way that benefits both communities and ecosystems.
Community members will be given additional opportunities to comment on the draft strategy during its public exhibition, which is scheduled to occur in late 2022.
